Jasper Philipsen on being the ‘fastest man in the world’, doing the green jersey double at the Tour de France and going one better at Roubaix
It seemed fitting that Jasper Philipsen eventually swapped his blue team issue kit for the green jersey of the Tour de France last summer once his Hulk-like sprinting won him the unofficial title of the fastest man in the world.
A familiar pattern gradually emerged during the Tour’s sprint stages this year, first seen on stage three. Alpecin led the peloton into the final kilometre before Philipsen burst from Mathieu van der Poel’s wheel to win the sprint.
With the 2010s Hulk, Peter Sagan, having reverted to something close to Bruce Banner, it was Philipsen who stepped forward to pick up the mantle of cycling’s most incredible strongman.
Philipsen chalked up 19 individual victories last season. The 25-yearold was simply a cut above the rest and says he is aiming to replicate his form this year with the Paris Olympics on the horizon.
Speaking exclusively to Cycling Weekly, Philipsen says lining up at the Olympics isn’t the be all and end all, which is just as well because given Belgium’s star-studded road race squad, he might not even make the start line.
“I hope to be there, of course,” he says. “It’s still a really long time away but I hope to be able to get to Paris and compete.”
“There are an awful lot of good riders available,” he adds. “I just need to deliver results and show that I’m one of the strongest on the type of terrain that they have for the road race in Paris.”
Quietly quick
The caricature of top sprinters is that they’re loud, brash and shouting from the rooftops about their own brilliance. However, five minutes with the unassuming Philipsen reveals that he is the complete opposite.
But when Paris-Roubaix comes up, Philipsen smiles and begins to talk himself up for the first time. His second place in the hallowed concrete velodrome, behind team-mate Mathieu van der Poel, was notable because he beat far more seasoned Classics riders to a place on the podium.
CW asks him if he can go one step further this year.
“Why not?” is the answer he gives in response.
“We will have to see,” Philipsen says. “I know we will make some plans as a group in January but I think with how I’ve evolved as a rider it would be a good decision to look at the Classics.
“Of course, the Tour de France again is a big goal, but hopefully I can fit some big Classics in as well, because I just love racing in them, it’s a real passion of mine.”
From the heartlands
Philipsen grew up in Mol, in Belgium’s east Flande
