Tour de France 2023 Stage 11 recap: Jasper Philipsen snares fourth win ahead of Dylan Groenewegen

It looks increasingly like no one is going to be able to beat Jasper Philipsen in a bunch sprint in this year’s Tour de France. Full report below...

It's worth adding that Philipsen – who now leads Coquard in the green jersey standings by 145 points – soared to victory without the luxury of a lead-out from his Dutch team-mate Mathieu van der Poel, confirming his fastest-man status.

“It’s an incredible Tour so far – I can’t realise how it’s going,” the 25-year-old said. “I’m just super proud. One win is already a big challenge, but we have now done it four times."

1. Jasper Philipsen
2. Dylaan Groenewegen
3. Phil Bauhaus
4. Bryan Coquard
5. Mads Pedersen
6. Alexander Kristoff
7. Luca Mozzato
8. Peter Sagan
9. Wout van Aert
10. Sam Welsford

The next five were Jordi Meeus, Cees Bol, Biniam Girmay, Corbin Strong and Caleb Ewan, with Fabio Jakobsen only managing 16th place despite all that work from his QuickStep train.

The Dutchman screams in anger as he crosses the line over a bike length down to come second, with Germany's Bauhaus in third ahead of Bryan Coquard and Mads Pedersen.

The man in green is unbeatable this year. Uno-X and Jayco swamped out the front with 500m to go, with Lidl-Trek also coming through. But Jasper Philipsen kept his cool and then timed his sprint to perfection for a fourth win of the race.

Alpecin, Lotto and then the Laporte/Van Aert duo with Philipsen in green right on their wheel. Here we go!

But Alpecin, Lotto and QuickStep are chomping at the bit, with Jumbo still looming.

The tension continues to rise as Groupama get in the way - guys, you left Demare at home! - and disrupt things ahead of the magic 3km mark. Jumbo wrest back control after another roundabout but Alpecin and Bahrain are sniffing around.

Tiesj Benoot has the yellow jersey in his wheel as well as Laporte and Van Aert, who is clearly keen to pick up his first win of the race today after many near misses. It all strings out through a roundabout with Jayco tucked in behind Jumbo and alongside Soudal and Alpecin.

Sam Welsford's dsm-firmenich have formed their train on the opposite side of the road to that of Jakobsen's Soudal-QuickStep. Bahrain Victorious are there for Phil Bauhaus, Lotto for Ewan, Alpecin for Philipsen, Intermarche for Girmay and Jayco for Groenewegen. Throw in the GC teams and it's extra busy. Oh, and there's Bol and Astana. And now we're hearing the rain has started to fall in Moulins, too.

Soudal and Uno-X are now on the front as Daniel Oss is reeled in. Biniam Girmay's Intermarche also has a rider in the mix. Jakobsen, the European champion, is fourth man in a six-man Soudal train. They mean business.

Still 10 seconds for the Italian - and it's still raining. His team-mate Peter Sagan is now near the front of the pack and alongside the Jayco-AlUla train.

Jumbo-Visma, Soudal-QuickStep, Uno-X, Groupama-FDJ, Bora-hansgrohe, Jayco-AlUla and UAE Team Emirates are all on the front of the pack now as we enter the final 20km. It's on days like this that you think their respective teams did not bring along Sam Bennett and Arnaud Demare to this Tour - especially in light of Jasper Philipsen's domination so far.

Tim Declercq is grimacing on the front of the peloton. Things have yet to really light up - but it's not so much the calm before the storm, as the calm within the storm, as the rain continues to pound down on the pack. We're hearing it's dry at the finish, though - for now. The gap is 25 seconds for Oss.

The earlier rain was just drizzle compared to the torrent now falling on the podium - and that adds another curveball into this finale. Daniel Oss will prefer being 45 seconds out ahead than he would being stuck in the peloton washing machine behind, where stress and tension levels must be rising.

The Italian has 45 seconds now and his presence out ahead at least means his TotalEnergies team does not have to help out with the chase behind. In years gone past, that would work in Peter Sagan's favour - but the Slovakian is not the rider he once was and he is unlikely to finish too highly in the sprint.

One rider we didn't mention earlier is Sam Welsford of Team dsm-firmenich. He's yet to hit top gear in his debut Tour but the Aussie track star is, on his day, one of the fastest guys out there, so he shouldn't be discounted on what is a very technical approach to the finish.

The day's first attacker decides he's had enough and exchanges a fist pump and some smiles with Daniel Oss before easing up and returning to the peloton. So, just the Italian veteran ahead of the pack now - with a lead of 25 seconds. Tim Declercq is back on the front in breakaway killer mode for Quick-Step.

Matis Louvel (Arkea-Samsic) is the first of the escapees to throw in the towel as the gap comes down to just 21 seconds. Oss and Amador are straight on the radio, presumably to be told to keep pushing on in a bid to win the combativity prize...

A deer makes a mad dash for it and crosses the road at speed just in front of the peloton - albeit early enough not to cause any sudden braking or distress. The pace in the pack is right up now with the wind increasing. Ineos and Jumbo are on the front while the other GC favourites are correct and present - just in case.