Jasper Philipsen took a dominant victory in a reduced bunch sprint at the end of the Tour de France‘s Alpine 17th stage on Wednesday.

Set up by a strong lead-out from his former world champion teammate Mathieu van der Poel, Philipsen finished several bike lengths ahead of Mauro Schmid and Olav Kooij, who had each already won a stage at the Tour.

Read moreSwiss rider Schmid wins Tour de France’s longest stage as Pidcock climbs into fourth

It was an 11th Tour stage victory overall for the 28-year-old Belgian, who won the sprinters’ green points jersey in 2023.

He had come close on several other sprint stages at the Tour, finishing five times in the top five already.

The 50 points he earned for winning the stage also moved him to within just seven points of another former world champion, Dane Mads Pedersen in the green jersey competition.

Race leader and defending champion Tadej Pogacar came home safely in the main peloton just under nine minutes later.

Read morePogacar wins Tour de France 14th stage to extend overall lead

But there was one concern for Pogacar, whose UAE Emirates-XRG team-mate Adam Yates – a crucial mountain lieutenant – struggled throughout the stage after suffering from a stomach problem the previous night.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)