Two (and a half) more chances to catch up with Benjamin Girmay: Evaluating Philipsen’s Green Opportunities

Due to Biniam Germay’s accident on Tuesday, Jasper Philipsen was 32 points behind his rival. An extra point was added yesterday, because the Eritrean beat the Belgian in the intermediate race.

The key may lie in the intermediate sprints. You can still collect 20-17-15-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 points on the green brackets.

So don’t be alarmed if there is a lot of activity in Alpecin-Deceuninck and Intermarché-Wanty in the first of the upcoming stages. Is the first team the one that guides Philipsen into the race, and the second one that allows the break as quickly as possible?

Just: what stages are still possible in the last grueling week for our fast compatriot to reach the intermediate race?

Today there are opportunities for Philipsen. The journey to Barcelonet is a transitional stage. Although the path is very uneven and has many hidden height meters, nothing is impossible again Colonel on the road.

To reach the intermediate sprint in one piece after 84.3 kilometres, you first have to overcome two third-category climbs: first the Col du Festre (3.9 kilometres at 6.3%), then the Côte de Corps (2.1 kilometres at 7.2%).

Some even say that the “strong runners” can also survive to the end in this stage, which is classified as the hill stage. So at the end there are still 30-25-22-19-17-15-13-11-9-7-6-5-3-2 points up for grabs.

But then there are three more third-category climbs and nearly 100 kilometres of ascent and descent to conquer. That would be a great achievement.

If Jermaine can stay close to Philipsen today, the green will surely go to Intermarche-Wanty.

If Philipsen can get into the Germay stream, Friday looks like the last chance to force something.

To spare the runners a bit, the arc is already set up after 20 kilometers. There is hardly any need to climb up to the green Gillister. The perfect moment to grab the last points.

While Philipsen certainly won’t be the only one wanting to do something there, plenty of other fast guys will want to get in on the muscle-flexing act one last time.

So Philipsen would do well to seize his opportunity on Thursday and Friday. Because our compatriot no longer has to rely on overtaking manoeuvres over the weekend.

The intermediate race on Saturday is hidden under two very difficult columns. First with the Col de Braus of the second category (10 km at 6.6%) and then the very long Col de Turini of the first category (20.7 km at 5.7%), getting there is still a “mission impossible”. To conquer.

We won’t get the classic sprint scene on the final day of this Tour either. There will be no sprint race on the Champs-Élysées this Sunday, but there will be a race against the clock in and around Nice.

On the clock, it is still possible to get a maximum of 20 points in the green zone, but barring a miracle, Philipsen will not get anything there either.