‘I knew I couldn’t win’: Mark Cavendish dissects finish as Jasper Philipsen wins again at Tour de France

Cavendish took a gamble on the wheel of former world champion Mads Pedersen at the finish of stage four of the Tour de France, but it did not pay off

Jasper Philipsen pips Caleb Ewan on the finish line (AP)

A photo finish in Nogaro, and once again Mark Cavendish had the best seat in the house.

Jasper Philipsen and Caleb Ewan reached the line together on the Circuito Paul Armagnac, a motor racing track here in south-west France, after a crash-riddled drag race along the 700m home straight. They lunged, and Philipsen pipped Ewan by centimetres to claim back-to-back stage wins and cement his position as the alpha sprinter at this Tour de France.

Cavendish came in fifth, one spot better than in Bayonne on Monday but still looking at the fight rather than contesting it himself. That historic 35th stage win still eludes him, but there are at least four more chances – if he keeps improving his place at this rate then perhaps he will win by Paris.

This was another low-paced day in the peloton, the result perhaps of everyone knowing what’s to come: two hard days in the high Pyrenees. After a gentle 190km the pack arrived in Nogaro as one, then swept through a narrow funnel on to the track for the final 3km.

It is not often the Tour finishes on a motor racing circuit and that may have played into the tense climax. As the riders jostled for position coming into the finale there were three crashes, one of which wiped out one of the favourites for the sprint, Fabio Jakobsen, and later Cavendish’s Astana teammate Luis Leon Sanchez, while Ewan’s Lotto-Dstny teammate Jacopo Guarnieri suffered a broken collarbone.

“I think everybody who had a plan, every team, it didn’t come to fruition in the final for them,” Cavendish said. “There was no team in control... my boys got me exactly where I wanted to be, we were good there, but for every team it became chaos in the final. The corners got tighter and tighter. It was a mixing pot of riders. I think Luis’s gone down so I’m a bit nervous there.”

Just as in Bayonne, Mathieu van der Poel guided his Alpecin-Deceuninck sprinter Philipsen to the last throes and the Belgian did the rest.

“It was a hectic final with the turns and in the end I lost my team,” Philipsen said. “But in the final straight I found Mathieu van der Poel and he did an amazing pull to get me to victory. My legs were cramping and Caleb was coming close.”

Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen celebrate (Pool via Reuters)

Cavendish rued a missed opportunity as a late gamble to track former world champion Mads Pedersen failed to pay off.

“I looked round and the only guy who had a leadout man left was Mads, he had [Trek teammate] Jasper Stuyven. So I just thought, bam, I’ll get on him. I was waiting for them to go, but they just didn’t go. At one point I could have gone at 350m – I wouldn’t have won, someone would have passed me, but I would have given myself a better shot. With a headwind there’s not much you can do.

“I audibly went… swear words… before I’d even sprinted. And then it was just making the most of it, I knew I couldn’t win. It’s all right.”

The general classification contenders like reigning champion Jonas Vingegaard, two-time winner Tadej Pogacar and the yellow jersey of Adam Yates took a day to keep the legs fresh for what’s to come, finishing safely together behind the frenzy ahead.

The two gentler days are over; Cavendish and the other sprinters must now battle through to the next sprint in Bordeaux on stage seven. Rarely does the Tour de France head into the high mountains in the first week, yet the peloton faces back-to-back stages in the Pyrenees which both feature hors categorie climbs, including the giant Tourmalet on Thursday.

We will get our first real clues as to the destiny of this year’s yellow jersey.