11 : A NEW TROPHY
By winning this Wednesday’s sprint after covering the final kilometre through the streets of Voiron at an average speed of 50.7 km/h, Jasper Philipsen claimed his 11th career Tour de France stage victory. The Alpecin–Premier Tech sprinter, who opened his account in Carcassonne in 2022, now ties André Greipel, Louison Bobet and Raffaele Di Paco, all of whom sit in 25th place on the list of the most prolific stage winners in the Grande Boucle. Philipsen also pulls ahead of his compatriot Wout van Aert (10 wins), becoming the Belgian rider with the fifth-highest number of stage victories in the race's history. He is closing the gap on Jean Aerts (12), Philippe Thys (13) and Freddy Maertens (15), though he remains far behind "The Cannibal" Eddy Merckx (34 wins).
5 : ACCUSTOMED TO THE WIN
With his victory in Voiron, a town where he had previously finished second on stage 4 of the 2025 Vuelta, Jasper Philipsen has now secured at least one stage win in five consecutive Tours de France. Following his two victories in Carcassonne and Paris in 2022, Philipsen went onto triumph four times in 2023, three more in 2024, and again during the opening stage in Lille last year, a win that allowed him to wear the Yellow Jersey for a day. Only Tadej Pogacar has a better record, as the Slovenian has won at least two stages every year since... 2020.
6 : THE JULY SQUAD
July is a successful month for them. Thanks to victories this Wednesday by Jasper Philipsen and a few days earlier by Mathieu Van der Poel, the Alpecin–Premier Tech team, which is competing in the Tour de France since 2021, has achieved the feat of winning at least two stages in each of its six appearances, bringing its total number of stage wins to 16. The streak began during stage 2 of the 2021 edition, when Mathieu Van der Poel triumphed at the summit of Mûr-de-Bretagne, followed the very next day by Tim Merlier in Pontivy. Since then, the successes have kept coming, notably thanks to Jasper Philipsen, the team's sole stage winner in 2022 (twice), 2023 (three times) and 2024 (three times again). Last year, "MVDP", Philipsen and Kaden Groves kept the tradition alive.
7 : A CONSTANT BATTLE
With a gap of just 7 points separating points classification leader Mads Pedersen (452 points) and his closest rival Jasper Philipsen (445) with only four days left until Paris, the battle for the green jersey promises to be intense. Since Barcelona, the two protagonists have been trading blows. While the Danish has capitalized on intermediate sprints to extend his lead over the Belgian (scoring 283 points to 220), Philipsen generally turns the tables at the finish lines (225 points to 169). Consequently, Pedersen, who has scored points in every road stage — unlike Philipsen who missed out on day three —, has only managed to leverage his climbing capabilities to rack up significant green jersey points on two occasions, the stage to Foix (which he won) and the stage to Ussel (scoring 76 and 40 points compared to Philipsen’s 20 and 16). However, the trend has shifted since stage 13, with Philipsen outscoring his main rival each day.
6 : A PROLIFIC EDITION FOR BELGIUM
Belgium is enjoying a prolific 2026 edition, having secured six stage wins since the Grand Départ in Barcelona. This tally, matching last year’s performance so far, is thanks to a hat-trick from Tim Merlier (stages 7, 8 and 12), a double from Remco Evenepoel (stages 15 and 16) and Jasper Philipsen’s victory this Wednesday. This marks the thirty-ninth time in history that Belgium has claimed this many stages in the Tour. A seventh one this year would be a feat the country has not achieved since 1984.
3 : SERIAL WINNERS
For the past three stages, the Tour de France has effectively belonged to Belgium. With Remco Evenepoel’s two victories at Plateau de Solaison and then Thonon-les-Bains (stages 15 and 16), followed by Jasper Philipsen’s win in Voiron (stage 17), Belgium has achieved a rare hat-trick involving two different riders. We have to go back to 2021 to find a similar feat by a single country. That year, Tadej Pogacar (stages 17 and 18) and Matej Mohoric (stage 19) achieved it for Slovenia. The last time Belgium managed such a hat-trick was in the 1981 edition, thanks to consecutive wins by Daniel Willems (stage 11), Freddy Maertens (stage 12a), Eddy Planckaert (stage 12b) and Freddy Maertens (stage 13) once again.
5 : A FIRST TOUR MARKED BY CONSISTENCY
By finishing third in Voiron, Olav Kooij reached the podium for the fifth time in this Tour de France, an impressive feat for his first appearance in the race ! After winning stage 5 in Pau, the Dutch sprinter from Decathlon CMA CGM also finished second in stages 11 and 12 (in Nevers and Chalon-sur-Saône) and third in stage 8 (in Bergerac). Only the Yellow Jersey wearer, Tadej Pogacar, has fared better, with seven podium finishes (four wins and three second-place finishes).
3 : VALIANT DANE
Particularly active throughout the stage before moving to the front of the race in the finale towards Voiron, Mads Pedersen received the combativity award this Wednesday for the third time in his career. The green jersey wearer had previously been honored after stage 13 of the 2022 Tour (a victory in Saint-Étienne) and during stage 17 in 2024. The Danish is now within one award of Ben Healy (4 awards) and Richard Carapaz, who holds the record among this year's riders with five combativity awards.
