How Jasper Philipsen Wins the Fastest Sprints in France

What does it take to win at the highest level of professional cycling? We join elite sprinter Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in training as he prepares for the 2025 season, aiming to build on his standout performances from recent years. For the Belgian, success in a sprint means ‘playing the game’ — whether that’s tracking rivals, putting them on your wheel, staying composed in the chaos, or being assertive when it matters most. As Jasper says, everyone plays the game — and if you don’t, you won’t be first across the line.

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The first place you’re the winner and you will be remembered. The second place nobody will remember. The edge between winning and losing is a few millimeters or a few centimeters. Trying to push yourself, always to the edge. To also find the benefit and find the wins. In the end of the day, the people will remember the wins. That’s, that’s important. That’s what we live for. On a certain moment, Jasper is able to change his mindset and then he’s a real, not a killer, but he wants to win. He wants always to win. Sometimes he loses it a bit out of frustration of not being able to win or by loosing. But it catches up always, like after a disappointment, he’s always again there to fight again and to try again and that’s real sportsmanship I guess. Let’s climb for it, fellas. It’s now or never. Philipsen gets the realise, he’s gone. He’s got Van Aert on his shoulder. It’s man on man between the pair of them. Oh Philipsen still bossing it. The big pick up here from behind. Oh my life he lived up to favourite status there. Philipsen finishes in again. He’s the main man here. Nobody can match Jasper Philipsen. If you don’t rest enough, your body just cannot handle all the load. So you need to find a good balance, a good work life balance, let’s say it like that. The sprint training is really grinding, but, yeah, I know I need it to get on top. But of course, there’s also some days that I throw up, and I see my breakfast coming out. Yeah, you have to, go all and you have to, you have to suffer to also improve. Because if you don’t hurt your body or you also don’t improve. The tolerance of risk that I’ve got from when I was younger, like some people, they will think, you’re taking this crazy risks. But in my head it doesn’t feel like a crazy risk, but, like a more calculated one as it would maybe for others. Yeah, it’s just part of it. You’re trying to do always things as fair as possible with a lot of respect for your competitors. Sometimes he’s, on the line. But they all are. I think they all know from themselves that they on every aspect of being a sprinter. They are always all close to each other. The thing is, in the end, you have winners and losers and when the loser feels a bit mistreated, then maybe, also, there is some kind of frustration. And I’m not saying that it’s not always correct, but it was not always that, negative or that wrong, as people were saying or predicting, which I am not defending him, not at all. But, it was for sure not always this black and white. Yeah, warm welcome, every day is like that, every day the same. Jasper is born to win. If I hear the stories of him as a child, he always wants to win. There’s like one story that they organize some events in the street with all the neighbours and the kids. Jasper was the smallest of the group. He started exercising every, like day. And then at the end he was super proud because he could reach the highest level and he went to, collect all the neighbours, like, come and look at me, I can finally reach the highest level. So he was the one training all day to reach it. And I think that describes Jasper’s personality, because even if you’re playing like a stupid game, he always wants to win. So last year, after the, incident in the Tour de France, the comments online got really bad, like, really bad. And at this moment I felt that it was really heavy. for Jasper like to put his mind back on the cycling and not on the negative vibes around it. Just because, a lot of things happen in the sprints and that, there is, yeah, situations that occurred where I maybe didn’t hold my line completely or that I would block another rider or whatever. All this race, yeah, incidents or, things that going on. But, yeah, of course, this is just a really 1 or 2 seconds in, in the bike race that people criticize. But yeah, of course they don’t know you as a person and they don’t know what’s all going on behind. Actually behind the scenes, the riders talk about it and it’s so fast forgotten between them. So yeah, it’s often that the situation is bigger online than it is in reality. As a sprinter you have to adapt to the situation that occurs. And also, have to, react on the things that are happening in the peloton. And trying to make the right decisions at the right moment. My strength is trying to take control in the big chaos that there is. Feeling in a state of rest. Instead of yeah, pure chaos that’s going on around you. One little mistake, or a wrong decision can, fuck up the situation to say it like that but it’s most of a time, a long day, a long race, 4 or 5 hours, and it can be done in a split second. Now It’s your turn? Yeah? Haha It starts with the riders and it ends with the riders. We try to prepare them and we try to prepare the stages as good as possible. You always have to find people that you feel good with. And where is good working together with and I think, we have proven with Mathieu van der Poel, Jasper Philipsen that that is a good combination between us. Yeah, I think we have of the best lead outs to the team, mainly also it’s classic riders in the lead outs who are a bit used to the chaos and of course, we have a few riders with the power to make the difference. I think Jasper, his strength, he’s just easy going and relaxed, and I think this is, yeah, really important, especially as a sprinter. He trusts the guys in front of him, also 100%. He’s through the center. 300m. It’s still van der Poel going. Now he peels off. It’s time for his main man to go and Phillipsen fires. What work by the team. The nicest thing for me about winning is, yeah, winning together and winning on a planned way when everybody had their contribution to the win and everybody can feel proud what they did. And that’s an achievement we did together. In cycling in particular, that’s, yeah, losing part is also part of the job unfortunately. But that’s what makes it’s so much more beautiful that you also know the moments you lose that, you know, also how it feels to win. Play the game is to get them where you want them to be. And, if it’s in your wheel or in their wheel, that’s a bit of the game of positioning in the bunch in the last couple of kilometers. But that’s always difficult because they also play the game. Nobody is here to give presents in the Tour de France. You need to be aggressive to say, okay, this is my position, you will not take that position, It’s my position. People, they know me from being aggressive, fighting for every inch of the road. Being, maybe not supportive towards my competitors, which I always try to be, but, It’s just a high performance sport and a really tough sport where there are no presents given, and you, you just have to take that position, because if you don’t do it, somebody else will do it for you.