Why green jersey contender Mads Pedersen had a 'proper s*** day' on Stage 17 at 2026 Tour de France - 'This shouldn't happen'
Updated 22/07/2026 at 21:37 GMT+1
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Mads Pedersen said his Stage 17 at the Tour de France was "proper s***" after he missed out on more points in the race for the green jersey, unable to stop Jasper Philipsen winning the final sprint in Voiron.
'This shouldn't happen' - Pedersen fumes after losing raft of points in green jersey race
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Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) won the intermediate sprint earlier in the stage, but saw his points classification lead cut to just seven points by Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), who sprinted over the line to win the stage.
There were no sprinters in the large breakaway, and Pedersen seemed to be in a strong position to further boost his green jersey hopes.
But Philipsen eventually worked his way to the front of the peloton, closed the gap to the breakaway and won the sprint finish, leaving a tired Pedersen trailing in eighth.
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"Proper s*** day," Pedersen told Eurosport. "This shouldn't happen and it's really disappointing to lose that many points, so yeah, I don't know what to say."
Asked if he had any regrets from the stage, Pedersen said: "I don't know. Maybe we should have let the big group go but it looked like Decathlon wanted to close it for a sprint, so right now I don't know what we could've changed.
"I scored the maximum points in the intermediate. The group didn't work really well and the sprint was just not good enough, and Japser [Philipsen} was extremely strong, so all in all a super disappointing day."
Lidl-Trek's sports director Steven de Jongh praised Philipsen's performance.
"We really fought hard to secure those points, but Jasper Philipsen was simply too strong," he said.
"Still, I think we put on a great performance in this stage. We were almost there, but just fell short. That makes Philipsen’s victory all the more well-deserved.
"Up until that final intermediate sprint, we actually did everything right. Then it's just a matter of hoping that things go our way. In the end, there's not much you can do against a sprint like Philipsen's.
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"We wanted to really push the pace on that final bend, but when Derek [Gee-West] accelerated, Mads signaled over the radio that he couldn’t go any further. He was completely spent, and Mads had to tell Derek to stop. I think that was pretty much the crux of it."
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Highlights: Philipsen blows green jersey race wide open with thrilling Stage 17 win
Video credit: TNT Sports
It now appears to be a two-horse race between Pedersen (452 points) and Philipsen (445 points) for the green jersey, with Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling Team) way back in third on 361 points.
In the general classification, meanwhile, Tadej Pogacar remains on course to win the race for a third successive title - and fifth triumph in all - with his lead over Remco Evenepoel currently standing at 4:32.
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