Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has well established himself as the fastest sprinter at the 2023 Tour de France with four emphatic stage victories, but the Belgian fast man also believes he can win Monuments.
This has been his best career season to date with seven wins at WorldTour level and success in the spring Classics with a second-place finish in Paris-Roubaix behind teammate Mathieu van der Poel and a win at Classic Brugge de Panne.
"This year I was already close in Paris-Roubaix, with my 2nd place," said Philipsen on Vive le Vélo. "On a good day and with good conditions, that's a race I should be able to win."
Philipsen was impressive at Roubaix as he survived the hardest 5-star sectors and once Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) had a puncture that removed his possibility of challenging Van der Poel for the win, Philipsen sat in his wheel and easily outsprinted his compatriot in the velodrome.
At Brugge de Panne, Philipsen also highlighted exactly how he was much more than just a sprinter as he split the leading group apart and continued driving the pace in wet and windy conditions, knowing he was the pre-race favourite, before outsprinting Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma), Yves Lampaert (Soudal-QuickStep) and Frederik Frison (Lotto-Dstny) to victory.
"I make progress every year and hope to continue that line so that I also become a little stronger in the classics,” Philipsen said. “We are on the right track."
The 25-year-old also still has a long career ahead of him and with his incredible consistency at finding a lane to sprint in, partnered with his superior top-end speed, he should have many more wins in his future.
He’s won six flat sprints in a row at the Tour. In the last 17 Tour de France sprint stages, he’s finished in the top three 16 times with his one miss being a fifth-place finish on stage 2 of the 2022 race. He’s also had a quick progression from missing out on wins to a resurgent Mark Cavendish and top-form Van Aert in 2021, to being the wheel to follow in the final as the fastest sprinter.
Philipsen was left in tears on the Champs Élysées after coming painstakingly close on the final stage of the 2021 Tour but came back in 2022 with two stage wins including one on Paris’ most famous avenue. 2023 has just been another leap up in performance for the Alpecin rider with his dominance over a stacked sprint field highlighted in four assertive wins.
On some of those occasions, he’s had a great lead-out from Van der Poel or Rickaert, but he’s also shown that he can do it on his own and is more than fast enough to leave the field in his wake even with poor positioning coming into a bunch finale, most recently on stage 11.
With great climbing capabilities and a smaller frame that allow him to get over hills with more in reserve, it’s no surprise to see him asked about a possible win at Milan-San Remo in the future, given its history as the sprinters' monument with former winners including Cavendish and Erik Zabel (four times).
"In San Remo I never really got close, but this year I had a good feeling on the Poggio,” said Philipsen after finishing a career-best 15th in 2023 with teammate Van der Poel up the road taking a brilliant solo victory on a parcours that nowadays suits a punchier rider.
He did make it clear, however, which Monument it was he really wanted: “Paris-Roubaix. I think that's the most special," said Philipsen. Alongside his runner-up finish this year, he was successful in northern France before joining the World Tour as he finished twice in the top five of the junior Paris-Roubaix and fourth in the U23 race in 2018.
