Philipsen had to follow attacks all day as Pedersen tried to wrap up the green jersey on stage 17, going clear in the final third of the race. After work from Mathieu van der Poel as well as Edward Plankeart for the Belgian, he was able to finish the job after an unconventional day for a sprinter.
Thanks to his victory, Philipsen chopped into Pedersen's lead for the green jersey to just seven points, despite the Dane taking maximum points on Wednesday's intermediate sprint.
Speaking after the stage, Philipsen said: "It’s for the team for keeping on believing in me. I was like an angry bird at the table, annoyed with myself that I couldn’t get a stage win. They had to deal with it - this one is for them.
"This victory cost me a few years of my life - I was fighting between groups. I thought the stage was lost, but the team made a plan, and they were amazing to deliver me.
He added: "I was doubting myself, I did everything I could before this Tour de France. I was not myself; was it the heat? I don’t know. Mentally, it was a tough rollercoaster."
Tadej Pogacar remained in yellow despite the carnage on the road, with the top five staying in place.
Isaac Del Toro remained 20 seconds ahead of French teenager Paul Seixas in the young rider's competition, whilst Valentin Paret-Peintre gained one point back on Pogacar in the battle to be called King of the Mountains.
Attack, attack
On a day where the climbing was frontloaded, the action started from kilometre zero, with riders expecting a breakaway to win the stage.
It was a perfect day for Danish rider Pedersen, who looked to drop the pure sprinters to bolster his chances of winning the green jersey.
But it wasn't plain sailing on the 40-kilometre uphill drag that started the day. Quinn Simmons, teammate of Pedersen, was on the attack alongside Van der Poel and a host of other riders, as 16 went clear atop Col du Pres.
It included, unexpectedly, Pogacar. The leader of the Tour had slipped into the move given the ferocious racing, and as he went back to the peloton, the group were given a minute before Decathlon CCA CGM came to the fore to chase it back for their sprinter Kooij, who had survived the climbs. One person who was struggling early was Isaac del Toro in the white young rider's jersey, but he would come back and finish comfortably in the main group.
Philipsen had also done well to stick in there too, but Pedersen had not. He would come back to them before launching another attack with around 50 kilometres to go alongside five riders, including Ben Healy and Michal Kwiatkowski.
Philipsen and Kooij were in the second group on the road in the final stages, whilst the GC riders had sat up. Plenty suffered on another fast day on the Tour, but it was Adam Yates who was feeling it the most.
He blew up as the groups converged, and was eventually picked up by UAE Team Emirates XRG teammate Tim Wellens to limp to the line, where he can recover ahead of a mountainous trio of days to come before the finish in Paris on Sunday.
From the front group, Jasper Stuyven took advantage of Pedersen going back to the team car for a bottle to go solo after he had taken full points at the intermediate sprint.
That took all of the co-operation out of Pedersen's group, allowing them to be caught by a rampaging third group on the road containing 39 riders and being led by Alpecin-Premier Tech as well as Visma Lease-a-Bike, who were chasing stage wins after the abandonment of Jonas Vingegaard over the weekend.
Stuyven, a winner of Milan-San Remo in 2021, worked hard to stay clear, and he held out until 3.7 kilometres to go, unleashing the group behind to attack each other.
Nothing stuck, seeing Philipsen sprint clear in the final metres and pick up the stage win that had evaded him throughout this race - the 11th of his career.
Josh Donaldson is a Global Senior Editor and International Football Specialist for Flashscore. From the UK, now living in Prague, Josh specialises in football and cycling and can be found at an obscure ground watching games or on his bike. You can follow Josh on X and read his articles here.
