Heading into stage seven of the Tour de France, the last memory Jasper Philipsen had of the Quai Louis XVIII was perhaps the fondest of his career. On a hot and humid day in July 2023, the Belgian burst past Mark Cavendish in the closing fifty metres along the banks of the Garonne to secure his third victory of that Tour, and disrupt the Brit's bid for a record-breaking 35th career stage win along the way. Cav confessed of a mechanical mishap as the crusher of his dreams after the stage - but that didn't matter for Philipsen, whose wrath continued on stage eleven into Moulins. The then-25 year old came away from that year's edition with four wins, the green jersey, and the satisfaction of beating the fastest cyclist of all time.
Upon Philipsen's return, the Garonne ran murky as before, and the Quays of west bank remained torched in sunlight. This is Bordeaux at its best, its wide boulevard homestraight an arterial vein in the history of the Tour ready for its 81st date with the fastmen: flat, hot, and windless.
Alpecin, too, had prepped for the occasion, marshalling the peloton to perfection alongside Soudal Quick-Step until the thundering pack reached the familiar surrounds of limestone facades and wrought-iron balconies. The stage was set, and it was Alpecin who brought numbers to the front in the closing two kilometres, with Mathieu Van der Poel's final leadout 250 metres before the line lending the occasion an even more familiar feel.
But either over-excited at the possibility of replicating that treasured day of three years ago, or simply too eager for their own liking, the team got their timing wrong. The stage was ceded to the more patient thoroughbred, Tim Merlier.
"I was in the position to launch my sprint," Philipsen begins in his analysis to a pack of journalists beyond the finish line. "I could start my sprint, but there simply wasn't enough speed. It's a shame because the team did everything perfectly. Everybody did what they were capable of, and it was a really amazing team effort.
He continues: "I'm really happy with that, but of course disappointed with my own legs and my own sprint. That was just not how it should be, and how my legs should be," he continues. "We will look into it, and the only thing I can say is that I did everything I could to ride as fast as possible, but it was not fast enough."
For a sprint favourite who has fallen to fifth on two occasions this Tour, he's surprisingly calm. The day hadn't been that of his dreams of 2023, nor had it been the anticipated first win of this year's Tour.
The question now is should we be worried for Philipsen? Is he of the form we know and expect? It's no secret that the pointy parcours of this year's tour is bound to take a toll on the sprinters, and Philipsen's confession of tired legs is consistent with the explanation he gave after finishing four places behind Olav Kooij on the opening sprint stage to Pau: "The heat is there for everybody, and it's been really demanding for the body. The muscles are sore, but yeah, we try to tackle it as best as possible."
Meanwhile, team manager Christoph Roodhooft gave the same reasoning, although indicated that there was some further research to be done: "Jasper knew this morning that he had not recovered perfectly. But if I could explain it, or if we could explain it, it would not happen, so that's too difficult to say. In the end, we do not blame Jasper."
It's still early days, but the opportunities for the fastmen are ticking down with five so-called 'sprint stages' left. If day seven fell short of replicating those golden memories of 2023 for Philipsen, then it's worth looking back a year, when a rack of top-five finishes culminated in a stage 15 win.
Bergerac is next, and Nevers after that - but Philipsen no doubt would have wanted the romance and revelry perennially promised by the Bordeaux stage to its fastest challenger.
