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The sprinters had all launched on the curving uphill drag to the line, with Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) trying to go on the inside of Philipsen before a slight bend in the road caused the two riders to nearly collide, van Aert having to concede at risk of going into the barriers while Philipsen continued on to the stage win.
Philipsen had either drifted from his line to the side of the road, hemming van Aert into the barriers, or he had taken the fastest line through the final corner, depending on one's view.
Jumbo-Visma certainly saw it as an illegal maneuver, the Dutch team formally protesting the result and prompting a review from UCI commissaires as Philipsen's celebration quickly turned to trepidation after being informed of the news while he sat waiting to be interviewed as the stage winner.
A now-deflated Philipsen sat anxiously waiting for the outcome of the review with his partner by his side, joined at one point by Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and a race official to watch the footage back.
Eventually, the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider entered the nearby race truck and re-emerged beaming again, with the review not finding he fell foul of the rules and confirming his third Tour de France stage win.
“There was a bit of doubt but, yeah, they made it really exciting in the end,” Philipsen said in his delayed winner's interview with a look of relief on his face.
"It was a tense final, but this is the Tour de France: there are no presents to nobody, everybody goes all-in."
For van Aert, the result was another disappointment to go along with yesterday's narrow second-place finish to Victor Lafay (Cofidis) in Saint-Sebastian, the nine-time stage winner forced to rue two missed opportunities to add to his Tour de France tally.
"I was well placed – Christophe Laporte did a really good job for me to bring me in position," van Aert said of the tricky finish.
"I tried to pass Jasper on the right side. But yeah, then I lost my momentum a bit because we touched each other and I also touched the spectators. So in the final 50 metres, I couldn't do my sprint."
Jumbo-Visma directeur sportif Arthur Van Dongen criticised the design of the finish after the stage, forced to respect the decision of the race jury to deny his protest.
"Wout started his sprint in third position, exactly what we planned," Van Dongen said.
"The case is that the UCI rules say the last 200m should be a straight line and that's not the case. It's normal then that things like this happen, but it's up to the jury to decide. It is what it is.
"It's part of cycling that the rider who leads the sprint takes the straightest line to the finish. But Wout is OK with it. It's not up to us to decide what's good or wrong. It's up to the jury."
