Champs-Élysées win a "dream coming true" for Jasper Philipsen

Sunday, 24 July 2022 at 20:56

Jasper Philipsen had a breakthrough Tour de France last year as the most consistent sprinter, however finished the race in tears at the Champs-Élysées as he had failed to take a stage win. This year he's won two, including the illustrious final sprint in Paris.

“I cannot believe it. It’s a childhood dream coming true. It’ll take a while to realize. I’m super proud of my team. It’s wonderful to finish the Tour like this," Philipsen said in the post-race interview. Having won in Carcassonne, it was not on the Belgian the true pressure to chase the stage win, but winning in Paris is a dream for any sprinter and was a hotly fought battle in the cobbles of it's main avenue.

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Team BikeExchange - Jayco had the leadout for Dylan Groenewegen set, however the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider managed to take advantage of his positioning skills, and used a blistering sprint to take a win by a large margin. "The sprint went ideally for me. I was in a great position. Dylan Groenewegen launched very early. I could stay in his wheel and I could sprint how I wanted," he described.

Although having had Mathieu van der Poel underperform, Jasper Philipsen filled the gap perfectly for the Belgian team, bringing home two stage wins. "It’s fantastic to win on the beautiful Champs-Elysées. We were disappointed earlier in this Tour, it did not go the way we wanted. But winning stage 16 and now stage 21, the most beautiful for a sprinter, it’s unbelievable," Philipsen concluded.