It may have taken a while for Jasper Philipsen to hit his stride at this year's Tour de France, but he nevertheless captured a trio of wins. Next season, however, the early stakes have changed so there is every reason for the Alpecin Deceuninck rider, and every other sprinter for that matter, to try and hit the ground running.
That motivation comes in the form of a yellow jersey, with the opening flat stage of the 2025 Tour de France, immediately piquing the interest of the sprinters when the route was announced at the end of October. Though, that doesn't mean for a second they are forgetting about what comes after the day of racing in Lille Métropole.
”I think this is a really nice opportunity as a sprinter so yeah, we try to go for it as well, but I think we don't want to risk it all for for this one stage,” Philipsen told Cyclingnews on the sidelines of the pre-race events for the Tour de France Prudential Singapore Criterium
“Stage wins will for sure be the goal, and everybody is targeting that first one, so of course I will also target it but if it's not playing out well we have other stages coming up.”
It took ten stages for Philipsen to strike a winning note in 2024, so there should probably be no surprises that he wants to play a different tune next year. Yes, there is a yellow jersey up for grabs given the first stage looks set for a bunch charge, but also plenty more promise in the opening half, with four flat stages before the first rest day.
"I think next year that there's a lot of opportunities for us in the first 10 days of the Tour of France so we have to make sure we are there immediately in our top condition from stage one," Philipsen said when asked what facets of this season may need tuning for the year ahead.
"This year, I had to take some time to get in better condition. So we have to look into it in detail and try to learn from the previous years."
Philipsen has already ridden five editions of the Tour de France, proving a ferocious competitor in the last three with his trio of stage wins in 2024, four and the green jersey in 2023 and two victories in 2022.
It's a race that has been a mainstay of his season across those years and the only Grand Tour he has put on his calendar since 2021, when he followed on from a Tour de France where he six times took to the lower steps of the podium with two stage wins in Spain.
The winning focus
His success at the Tour de France, though, doesn't mean he is any less driven to turn his gaze elsewhere, as while retiring rival Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan) may find it hard to get motivated for anything except the Tour, Philipsen has a different drive.
"Personally, I have more like a winning mindset. Every race I compete in I try to give my best," said Philipsen. "I try to aim for the highest possible and it's winning the bike race. So yeah, of course the Tour de France is much more important than any other race, but I try to just make the best of every day on the bike and see."
There was evidence of that mentality during the trip to the Tour de France criterium in Saitama. Philipsen's determination to deliver the best possible result was clear even in something as far removed from bike racing as an attempt by the riders at a cultural exchange event to master, or at least get a half-decent sound out of, Japan's national instrument, the koto.
While Philipsen may not have carried quite the same dexterity in negotiating the plucked half-tube zither instrument as he does in a bunch sprint the rider who proclaimed "I have no talent for music" made sure by the end he'd managed to extract a tuneful run of notes to deliver the most crowd-pleasing rendition – even chiming in for another shot when the initial attempt didn't hit the mark.
The rider, who is clearly not reluctant to dive into new challenges, has one Grand Tour left that he hasn't tested that winning mentality on and that is the Giro d'Italia. The race comes earlier in the season and closer to the Classics campaign that is so important to the team and rider, who this year won Milan-San Remo. Though that doesn't mean it will necessarily remain a missing Grand Tour link.
"We see how the program will be next year, what the team goals are, what they want me to race, what my personal ambitions are, and then we try to match," said Philipsen. "If it's maybe starting a Giro or doing the Vuelta, it's also possible."
