The battle for the Tour de France 2026 is heating up on multiple fronts. While Tadej Pogacar continued his firm grip on the yellow jersey, Belgian sprinter Jasper Philipsen finally celebrated his first stage victory of this year’s race after producing a stunning sprint finish on Stage 17. The Alpecin-Premier Tech rider edged out Mauro Schmid and Olav Kooij at the line, while also closing the gap on green jersey leader Mads Pedersen with just a handful of stages remaining. Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) remained four minutes and 32 seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel in the overall rankings.
Jasper Philipsen win Tour de France Stage 17
“I had to wait until stage 17 to win … it’s one for the team who kept believing in me,” said 28-year-old Philipsen, who was expertly led out by teammate Mathieu van der Poel for the final sprint to the finish.
An aggressive start to the 174.7km journey from Chambery to Voiron led to a couple of early crashes, with Davide Ballerini going down after a roundabout shortly before a bunch of riders in the peloton fell, including Tom Pidcock.
Pidcock, eighth in the general classification coming into the stage, quickly got back up, as did seventh-placed Lenny Martinez.
A group of riders pushed ahead of the peloton with 100km to go, but Pedersen and Philipsen hung back with Pogacar, Evenepoel and other yellow jersey contenders, who showed no interest in taking on the sprinters for a stage win.
Mads Pedersen’s green jersey battle heats up
Pedersen made his move with 65km left in the stage, speeding to join the leading group. Soon, a group of six riders broke away, with Pedersen among the new leaders along with Ben Healy and Jasper Stuyven, with the peloton over five minutes behind.
Philipsen set off with another chasing group soon after.
As the leaders crossed Colombe, Stuyven attacked with 26km left in the race. The Belgian Soudal Quick-Step rider built a 50-second lead with just over 15km left.
But on a downward slope approaching Voiron, an enlarged chasing group, which included both Philipsen and Pedersen, began chipping away at Stuyven’s lead, and caught him in the final 3.7km.
Josh Tarling tried to pull ahead in the last kilometre, but Van der Poel reeled him in before leading out Philipsen, who sprinted down a clear path to victory.
Tadej Pogacar retains yellow jersey before crucial mountain stages
The race returns to the mountains on Thursday, with stage 18 testing riders with a 185.2km ride from Voiron to Orcieres-Merlette.
The next three stages, all mountainous rides, offer Evenepoel the final opportunities to reduce the gap with Pogacar before the race concludes in Paris on Sunday.
(With inputs from Reuters)
