Jasper Philipsen has the advantage in the Tour de France group sprint, but Dylan Groenewegen will fight to loosen his grip until Paris after finishing second behind the strong Belgian on Wednesday.

Groenewegen was in a good position at the end of stage 11 when the Jayco Alura team sent him to the front of the bunch with an open road ahead in Moulin. However, Alpecin Deceuninck's fast pace overtook him in the last 150 meters to take his fourth win of the competition.

After a cool down outside the team bus, Groenewegen praised his teammates, especially chief pilot Luka Mejek.

"I came from a very long way, but I trust Luka and he brought me completely to the front with 400 meters to go. I was behind Alexander Kristoff (Uno X Pro Cycling) and waiting for him to sprint, but he didn't accelerate much.

"It was a long road, but I thought, "This is our day."

Philipsen has won four of the five bunch kicks in the Tour so far and has three more pure sprinter chances in the final week of the race. Some of his rivals have already begun to mentally concede to the 25-year-old, but Groenewegen is not among them.

Asked what he thought of Philipsen, Groenewegen replied: "He is a good enough sprinter!" . The best way to beat him, Groenewegen said, is to keep trying.

To do so, he would have to survive tough days in the mountains. Stage 12 features five mountain sections, which will favor climbers and breakaway groups.

"This is all we can do. We will keep trying. There are two or three more stages, so we will fight until Paris. The next week will be really hard, but we will fight until Paris," Groenewegen said.

The 30-year-old has been steadily improving in the Tour, finishing fourth behind Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) on the uphill in Limoges on stage 8. He also finished fifth on stage 7.

Matt White of Jayco Arla believes Groenewegen can accomplish this battle, as the team has changed its Tour preparation based on this year's route.

"Sometimes in the Tour de France there is one sprint in the final week. This year I knew there would be three sprints, so I adjusted my Tour de France run accordingly," White said.

"I saw the uphill sprint a few days ago, which is usually too hard for Dylan. So I'm confident in his condition. In a sprint, conditions are one thing and timing is another. Unfortunately, Philipsen was just a little bit too fast."