"I’d rather take a gamble and win than settle for second" - Jasper Philipsen criticises Soudal - Quick-Step for lack of chase at Gent Wevelgem 2025

Mads Pedersen soloed for more than 55 kilometres to a stunning Gent Wevelgem win on Sunday afternoon in Belgium. Could the chasing pack have done more to hunt down the Dane though? According to Jasper Philipsen, the lack of impetus from Soudal - Quick-Step is mostly to blame for the disrupted and disorganised chasing of Pedersen.

"On the final climb of the Kemmelberg, I tried to create a small split. With a small group, it might have been easier to close the gap to Pedersen," recalls the Alpecin-Deceuninck leader in a post-race interview, with quotes collected by Sporza. "Maybe it was a shame that Soudal-Quick Step didn't add another rider to the chase because, in the end, they still did a lead-out for Tim Merlier with just three riders."

For the most part, it was Philipsen's Alpecin-Deceuninck teammates that led the chase. As they burnt through riders and no one else offered to help though, Philipsen was soon left isolated in the bunch. "At that point, I had no one left because everyone had been used up. I’d rather take a gamble and win than settle for second," said Philipsen. "I would have liked to have sprinted for the podium, but I got boxed in on the left side. Then I let it go. The win was no longer possible, and that’s what we came here for."

At one point it did look like Philipsen could dream of more, as he followed Pedersen's inital move. Sadly though, disaster struck at the most inopportune time with a puncture. "When you see how far he went... truly impressive," Philipsen says of the incident. "It was a very long race with a lot of headwind, so it's a crazy performance to do that on your own."

"On the first pass of the Kemmelberg, I felt good: I could keep up without going beyond my limit. By the end, my best legs were gone, but I think that was the case for everyone," Philipsen concludes. "It would have been a battle of attrition anyway, but you never know how the race would have evolved. The Kemmelberg really took its toll on the legs. I would have liked to have been with them, and maybe we would have had a completely different race. But it didn’t turn out that way."