Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Desseuninck) says he has the form to take his first Tour de France win in a group sprint this Sunday.

The 24-year-old cited Friday's stage to Saint-Etienne as an example of how a lack of cooperation prevented the few remaining sprinter teams in the lead group from pulling back the break. In the end, Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) won the race.

But Philipsen, who not only finished eighth on the cobbles on stage 5, but also finished in the top five three times in the race, where the final group sprint took place in Denmark, said he was determined to leave his mark.

"I'm still feeling good, I'm healthy, and I'm looking forward to Sunday," Philipsen told a small group of reporters at the start on Saturday.

"I told the teams we could try something on Friday, but not all [sprinter] teams were on the same page.

"I knew it would be difficult because the group in front of us was strong, but I was convinced it was possible if the sprinters' teams were committed. But it didn't work out."

Philipsen's frustration is all the stronger given that, as he puts it, "there were only three chances left": stage 15, stage 19, and stage 21 in Paris.

"If I could choose one, it would be the Champs-Elysées," he said. But it would be even more stressful if I had to wait until the last day to win."

Apart from his encouraging results in the Tour, Philipsen has also been a consistent performer in the sprints. He won multiple stages in the season-opening Tour of the UAE and also took stage wins at the Tour of Turkey and Tour of Belgium in June. [He has three Grand Tour-level stage wins at the Vuelta a España, but has yet to win a single stage at the Tour de France. Hopefully that will change in the final week. ...... He said.