After a late catch by the peloton, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) produced an incredibly strong sprint to win In Flanders Fields, as he beat Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM) at the finish in Wevelgem to take an emphatic victory.
The Belgian rider had been left disappointed after narrowly missing out on the win at the Ronde Van Brugge earlier in the week, but was back to his best in the final sprint, as a gap opened up for him along the barriers, which gave him just enough space to emerge from the slipstream and launch for the line.
“It’s one I’ve been chasing for a long time,” said Philipsen in his post-race interview. “It’s a Classic that I’ve wanted to win for many years, but never really had the legs at the end. Everything came together today and I was able to take the victory.”
His teammate Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) had been up the road with Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) after the pair bridged across to the early breakaway with 57km to go and then went clear on the final ascent of the Kemelberg. However, they were eventually caught by the peloton just before they went under the flamme rouge, setting up a sprint from the reduced bunch after a late attack from Alec Segaert (Bahrain Victorious) was also reeled in.
“With Mathieu in the front, it was an ideal situation for our team. He told us already quite some kilometres before the final that he didn’t have the best legs because of Friday, but if you can still ride away with two in the end, then his legs weren’t too bad,” said Philipsen.
Efforts from the sprinters’ teams in the peloton behind saw the leading pair gradually brought back on the long run-in to the finish after the final climb, with Philipsen stating that, “I knew from the past that the finish is always quite long and it’s difficult to have fresh legs in the end. That’s what I needed today to gamble on the sprint and take the win.”
The final sprint was hectic, with very few riders left from each team to do a leadout for their sprinter.
“It was not easy,” said Philipsen. “We did the leadout with Jonas Geens and Florian Sénéchal, who are both new to the team, so for them it’s also new to find the perfect moment, find each other and work together. I think we had a good plan, so it’s really nice to make it happen and finish it off together with those teammates.”
This victory sees Philipsen get back to winning ways after a disappointing runner-up finish at the Ronde Van Brugge earlier in the week. It also marks his first WorldTour win of the season, with his only other victory prior to this race coming at Nokere Koerse earlier this month.
It has certainly been a quieter start to the year than the Belgian sprinter would have hoped for, but with major objectives of his Spring Classics campaign coming up at races such as Scheldeprijs and Paris-Roubaix, he could be hitting form at the perfect time.
Results
In Flanders Fields Men 2026: Middelkerke > Wevelgem (241km)
1. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech, in 5:08:03
2. Tobias Lund Andresen (Den) Decathlon CMA CGM
3. Christophe Laporte (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike
4. Arnaud De Lie (Bel) Lotto Intermarché
5. Robert Donaldson (GBr) Jayco AlUla
6. Matteo Trentin (Ita) Tudor Pro Cycling
7. Luca Mozzato (Ita) Tudor Pro Cycling
8. Aimé De Gendt (Bel) Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling
9. Jonas Abrahamsen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
10. Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Lidl-Trek, all at same time
