'I didn't do anything on purpose or anything wrong' – Jasper Philipsen relegated then reinstated at Tour de France after jury flip-flop
Alpecin-Premier Tech rider finished third behind Søren Wærenskjold
Jasper Philipsen was relegated then reinstated after finishing third in the bunch sprint on stage 11 of the Tour de France on Wednesday, on an odd early evening in Nevers.
The Alpecin-Premier Tech rider was punished by the race jury after he appeared to move into a Picnic PostNL rider in the final 500m of the stage, however, after discussion with the team, the Belgian was reinstated. The stage was won by Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility), with Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) in second.
In the space of an hour, the team went from being reasonably pleased with third place, to being confused and disappointed, back to close to their original state.
Philipsen later said: "I didn't do anything on purpose or anything wrong.
"[Relegation] was another disappointment, because I didn't know what happened during the sprint. It was hectic like it always is at the Tour. There was one moment I had a contact with a rider from Picnic, but that's because the speed had dropped a lot. The riders from behind had a lot more speed.
"I didn't do anything on purpose or anything wrong. I'm happy that they reconsidered it. It's good that the third place is there. It's not a win... but the Tour is not over yet."
The news filtered through just under half an hour after the stage that Philipsen had been relegated, which completely changed the mood at the team bus, before that decision was reversed half an hour later further. The Belgian sprinter was informed of the relegation while in the plunge pool of Alpecin-Premier Tech's ice truck, which might have cooled his mood somewhat.
"We don't know which phase it is," Philip Roodhooft, the team's manager, said immediately after the original relegation. "I think consistency is the key to every rule. If it's not applied for everybody in the same way, then that creates trouble, but I don't think anybody has a special eye on Jasper, I think it takes us to far to think that.
"On the other hand, from his position, now being disqualified and getting a yellow card, I think he feels like somebody has an eye on him, I think that's normal."
Twenty minutes later, Christophe Roodhooft, the team's head sports director, told Wielerflits: "It is better the way it is. I think it is only fair. It was a good meeting. We reviewed everything together, and those people had a lot more footage than what we had seen. And ultimately, they consulted again and the decision was reversed.
"It is not easy for anyone here and everything has to happen quickly. I think it is good how things turned out."
Earlier, a chipper Christophe Roodhooft said: "When he says afterwards that he had the legs to be there for the win, that's nice to hear after the difficult stages and sprints he had. For sure there's big progress and that's important."
Philipsen, for his part, added: "We had a positive feeling about my sprint, that was the first time good at this Tour. I was happy with my performance. The sprint was just a strange finish, no-one expected this kind of finish. Everyone stopped and looked at each other with 400m to go. It was a missed opportunity for us."
The team were not left delighted, after all, they finished third, but they were relieved at not being relegated further. Philipsen will now be heartened ahead of the next sprint opportunity, which comes on Thursday's stage 12.
