Belgian Jasper Philipsen takes his third sprint victory of this year's Tour de France in Nîmes. There were no changes at the top of the overall classification.
Philipsen came out on top in the 16th stage over 189 km from Gruissan to Nîmes - also thanks to intensive leadership work by team-mate Silvan Dillier until his minor crash 40 km before the finish - ahead of the German Phil Bauhaus and the Norwegian Alexander Kristoff. Stefan Bissegger crossed the finish line in eleventh place.
Biniam Girmay, who was aiming for his fourth victory, crashed around 1.5 km before the finish, but escaped with bruises and grazes and can continue the Tour. The 24-year-old Eritrean is therefore well on his way to winning the green jersey of the best sprinter for the first time.
Due to the Olympic Games in Paris, the Tour ends in Nice for the first time on Sunday. There are no more flat stages on the way there, but there are still four sprint classifications on the more demanding routes. Girmay's crash and Philipsen's stage win narrowed the gap between the two to 32 points.
As expected, there were no changes among the top riders in the overall standings. Tadej Pogacar defended his yellow jersey without incident and is still 3:09 minutes ahead of defending champion Jonas Vingegaard. Belgian time trial world champion Remco Evenepoel is still third, 5:19 minutes behind.
SDA
