Philipsen felt 'disappointment and confusion' after Tour de France disqualification, Alpecin boss Roodhooft responds

Jasper Philipsen finished third in Nevers on Wednesday riding for Alpecin-Premier Tech, but was subsequently demoted to 119th place due to what the jury deemed to be unsportsmanlike conduct. Team manager Philip Roodhooft saw what everyone else saw, which was that there didn’t really seem to be much going on.

"About 500 meters from the finish, the peloton still had to navigate a slight turn. As they went through it, the group veered to the left, causing Philipsen—possibly due to Jasper Stuyven of Soudal Quick-Step pushing him outward—to collide with a lead-out rider from Picnic PostNL.

Because everyone shifted to the left, space actually opened up on the right for Waerenskjold. At first glance, this seems like a rather harsh penalty for Philipsen—if that was indeed the situation—but judge for yourself using the footage below...

"We've seen the footage, but we went to the referees to find out exactly what this was all about," said team manager Philip Roodhooft on Sporza. "In our opinion, there isn't an obvious explanation for the demotion and the yellow card. Maybe we’re looking at the wrong footage, but we find it very strange.”

"We also see that collision with the Picnic PostNL rider, but that rider is coming from behind. That makes it hard for Jasper to see him coming and to figure out where that rider is," the commentator says. “It seems like a harsh call to us, but we hope to find out a little more. Of course, this is very frustrating for Jasper, especially because it’s so unclear,” the Belgian says.

"What was Jasper feeling? Disappointment and confusion," said Roodhooft, for whom this is also a major setback in the battle for the green jersey. Philipsen is now more than 100 points behind leader Mads Pedersen.