You can almost set your watch by it. The first week of the almost never goes by without and on the third stage of the 2025 Tour, Belgian Jasper Philipsen, who was wearing the green jersey (the best sprinter), was hit.
Frenchman Bryan Coquard skidded at around 60 km/h during an intermediate sprint, and Philipsen, who was riding next to him, was unable to avoid him and crashed onto the asphalt. Philipsen, who had won the first stage and even wore the leader’s yellow jersey for a day, broke his collarbone and at least one rib. The 27-year-old’s Tour is now over, and Swiss rider Stefan Bissegger and Italian Filippo Ganna had already had to abandon the race after crashing during the opening stage.
Few chances for sprinters
“The first week is probably the most dangerous, because everyone thinks they can make cycling history,” said former rider Rolf Aldag, now sports director of the German team Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. “In the second or third week, everyone knows where they belong. Then they pull back and slow down.”
There are a total of seven flat stages in this year’s Tour de France, and most of them are in the first week. That adds to the pressure of the first week for those looking to go fast because in the difficult mountain stages in the Pyrenees and the Alps later in the race, the sprinters are only concerned with reaching the finish within the prescribed time window. The goal is to still be in contention for the final stage on the Champs Élysées, which is usually decided in a sprint.
Bauhaus: “Extreme willingness to take risks”
The third stage from Valenciennes to Dunkirk had actually started at a leisurely pace – as the author was able to see for himself at the edge of the route in the small town of Seclin: The peloton rolled along at a slow pace, even the usual breakaway attempts by individual riders failed to materialize due to the strong winds. But at the only sprint classification of the day, 60 kilometers before the finish in Dunkirk, the crash occurred.
Two more were to follow, the last one during the final sprint, when several sprinters landed on the asphalt. Unlike Philipsen, they escaped with grazes. “After the World Championships, the Tour is the biggest thing you can achieve as a professional cyclist. That’s why the willingness to take risks is extremely high here,” said German sprinter Phil Bauhaus, who finished third in Dunkirk.
“We rode through hell,” said , who won three stages and the green jersey in 2024. “I’m just super happy that I arrived safely. Whenever I heard a crash behind me, my heart rate went up to 300.”
Yellow card for misconduct
In order to control the risk of falling, the UCI (cycling’s world governing body) introduced yellow cards at the beginning of the year – similar to football. Sprinters can be warned if they “deviate from the chosen line and thus hinder or endanger another rider” or if they brake suddenly during a sprint.
In these cases, a fine of 500 Swiss francs (€535) will be handed out as well as a deduction of points in the classification for the best sprinter. A second yellow card during a race results in a seven-day ban. For a multi-week tour such as the Tour de France, this means disqualification.
Another new feature this year is that the finish zone can be extended from three to five kilometers before the finish line in flat stages where sprints are expected for the stage win. If a professional cyclist crashes within this zone, he will be counted with the same time as the group in which he was riding at the time of the crash. This means that they do not lose any time in the overall standings as a result of the crash, but they still have to cross the finish line somehow.
This article was adapted from its original German.
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