Jasper Philipsen's spring racing schedule has been revealed, with the Alpecin-Premier Tech sprinter deviating from his usual pattern in 2026. He will start the year in Europe with a return to an event he hasn't lined up at since 2019, the Volta ao Algarve.
The four-day stage race, from February 22-26, which offers bunch sprint opportunities on both stages 1 and 4, will be the opening foray in a racing block that culminates in another run at Paris-Roubaix on April 12. Philipsen's Alpecin-Premier Tech teammate Mathieu van der Poel has dominated at the Hell of the North in recent seasons, but the Belgian was the second rider across the line in the Roubaix velodrome in both 2023 and 2024.
In a season where Philipsen will once again target the Classics early in the year, after the race in Portugal, the 27-year-old will take on one of his season staples of recent years, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. He came third at the Belgian one-day race last year, which has been a regular fixture in his spring programme alongside the UAE Tour, a race he's opted to miss this year in favour of Volta ao Algarve.
The Belgian's schedule and familiar pattern will then continue with Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne on March 1, where he is defending champion, and Nokere Koerse on March 18.
That will provide a final tune-up before heading over to Italy for Milan-San Remo, where teammate Van der Poel is defending champion, but Philipsen claimed a career-elevating sprint victory on the Via Roma in 2024. He'll be hoping for a better build-up to the March 21 event this year, with the last delivering a crash at Nokere Koerse.
It is then back to Belgium for Ronde van Brugge, which he won in 2023 and 2024, before the renamed Gent Wevelgem, In Flanders Fields Middelkerke-Wevelgem on March 29. Dwars door Vlaanderen then follows on April 1, and just as he has every year since 2023, Philipsen will go on to skip the Tour of Flanders and focus on the sprint-focused Scheldeprijs on April 8, which he has won twice and also claimed runner-up spots in the last two editions.
After that, the final piece in the spring racing puzzle is Paris-Roubaix, where he bolsters Alpecin-Premier Tech's chances of keeping the cobblestone trophy that Van der Poel has brought to the team for the last three years.
That's where the outline of Philipsen's plan ends on the team's social media post, but if the pattern of the last five years is anything to go by, the next big target for the winner of ten stages will be the Tour de France.
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