Second stage win for Jasper Philipsen

The cheerful Pascal Ackermann was not spoiled by the third place in a row. Shortly after the sprint defeat in Pau against stage winner Jasper Philipsen and Wout van Aert, the Palatinate rider was already beaming again. “I have shown again that I am back among the world’s best. I will not give up,” said the 30-year-old. Ackermann has one more stage of the 111th Tour de France left, and on Tuesday there will be the last chance for sprinters in Nîmes.

On the hectic 13th stage, which was characterised by a lot of crosswinds, Ackermann was always on top of things. “It was extremely hectic, we were always there with the team,” said the former German champion. “It wasn’t really a sprint, because many sprinters were no longer there. It was a real elimination race.” Ackermann even left three-time stage winner Biniam Girmay behind him, but again it wasn’t enough to make it to the top. As in Saint-Amand-Montrond and Villeneuve-sur-Lot, he came third.

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The fast man is still in a great mood because he knows where he comes from. “If I look at the last two or three years, everyone would have laughed if I said that I wanted to win a stage,” said Ackermann. “I don’t know what I could have done better. I’m happy with myself. We’ve already shown in the last few days that we’re not a second-class team.” But if he could choose whether he could come third five times or first once, “I would definitely take the win.”

Tadej Pogacar once again defended the overall lead. The Slovenian is 1:06 minutes ahead of Belgium’s time trial world champion Remco Evenepoel. Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard from Denmark is 1:14 minutes behind in third place. The trio also rode carefully on the lead stage. When the field was torn by a gust just twelve kilometers after the start, the top riders were at the front – as was Ackermann. But after eight kilometers the adventure was already over, as several teams were catching up. In the end, despite several gusts, the expected sprint took place.

For the German Red Bull team, it has only been about stage wins since Friday morning. Captain and overall hope Primoz Roglic had to accept the consequences of his fall the day before and abandon the race. According to sports director Rolf Aldag, he has not suffered a concussion or fractures. “The impact on the body is so great that there is no point in setting off,” he said after the Slovenian’s two falls.

With a view to the rest of the season, giving up was the best option. In the coming days, team boss Ralph Denk, Aldag and Roglic will discuss what is still possible this year. One option would be to take part in the Tour of Spain, and the World Championships in Zurich would also suit the 34-year-old.

Kämna’s departure confirmed

The racing team will have to plan for the coming year without one of its flagships. Lennard Kämna will leave Red Bull after five years. Team boss Ralph Denk confirmed this in the OVB Media podcast. According to regulations, the Tour stage winner’s new team can only be announced from August 1st, and speculation has it that Kämna will move to Lidl-Trek. After Emanuel Buchmann, the tour specialist is the next notable departure.

“He will leave the team at the end of the year. That makes me a little sad,” said Denk. “He has finished, that is his decision. We will support him until the end.” He also hopes that Kämna can “wear our jersey and have a dignified farewell” again this season. Kämna collided with a car in the training camp on Tenerife in April and suffered, among other things, severe chest trauma with rib fractures and a bruised lung. The 27-year-old is now back on the bike and training.

The weekend will see two more clashes between the Tour favorites. Two mountain finishes are scheduled in the Pyrenees. On Saturday (12pm in the FAZ live ticker for the Tour de France, on sportschau.de and on Eurosport) the stage will go over the mystical Col du Tourmalet before ending in Pla d’Adet. The following day, the finale to the Plateau de Beille is even more challenging with a total length of 15.8 kilometers. A total of 4800 meters of altitude must be overcome.