Philipsen delivers with win at Tour du Limousin

Jasper Philipsen took his first win of the season with a dominating performance by UAE Team Emirates on stage 3 of the Tour du Limousin. The Belgian timed his move to perfection with a burst of power in the closing 200m to come around Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ) for a clear victory, just 24 hours after his teammate Fernando Gaviria claimed the teams first win of the race.

 
Rui Costa made the first decisive move on the final climb of the Cote de la Trassoudaine with 13km left to race in a select group of 4 riders. The group would swell on the descent with the Emirati squad taking control of the bunch with 4km to go. Philipsen surfed the wheels until the uphill kick, guided by teammate Costa, before claiming his maiden win of the season and the 18th win for the team.

Costa finished 8th on the stage also, and holds onto 8th in the General Classification 16’’ behind race leader Luca Wackermann (Vini-Zabu).

 
Philipsen : “It was a really hard stage with the most meters of climbing than any other day this week.For me it was a push to be there in the final but we had a strong team and the guys controlled it for me nicely in the last kilometres. Fernando was really good yesterday and it gave me motivation to do something also today. I am happy my condition is growing and that I could finish it off with a win. I didn’t so much expect a win this week but I hoped it would come. The last couple of years I’ve had a lot of top-5s and podiums so to finally get another win is satisfying.”

Tomorrow’s final stage will take the riders from Lac de Saint-Pardoux to Limoges (167k) in what is set to be another sprint finale.

 
Stage 3 results

1.Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) 4:36:21
2.Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ) “
3.Benjamin Declercq (Arkea Samsic) “
8. Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) “

 
General Classification after stage 3

1.Luca Wackermann (Vini-Zabu) 13:20:06
2.Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ) @5’’
3. Kevin Ledanois (Arkea-Samsic) @7”
8.Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) @16”