Is Jasper Philipsen's classics focus jeopardising his bid to defeat Girmay, Milan and Merlier at the Tour de France?
Cycling
According to Benji Naesen on X, the UAE Tour 2025 marked the
first time since March 2022 that Jasper Philipsen failed to win a sprint in a
stage race he participated in.
In 2022, Philipsen made his mark with two Tour de France
stage wins, alongside victories at the UAE Tour and Tour of Turkey. The
following year, he reached new heights, winning four stages at the Tour de
France in what became a dominant partnership with Mathieu van der Poel, whose
lead-out skills helped Philipsen establish himself as the premier sprinter of
the season. He also claimed multiple stage wins at both the Tour of Turkey and Tirreno-Adriatico
in 2023.
His success continued into 2024, where he won a stage at Tirreno-Adriatico,
three stages at the Tour de France, and further stage victories at the Tour of
Belgium and the Renewi Tour. However, his performances at this year’s UAE Tour
were noticeably less dominant, as he failed to overcome Tim Merlier and Jonathan
Milan in the sprints.
Speaking to Het Nieuwsblad after the UAE Tour,
Philipsen reflected on his form: "Until April I am a classics rider,
from May I am a sprinter." His focus on the spring classics may
explain why he lacked the sprinting edge to overcome his rivals in the UAE.
Last year, Philipsen claimed his first Monument victory at Milano-Sanremo,
before finishing runner-up to Mathieu van der Poel at Paris-Roubaix. While his
classics campaign was a success, his form later in the season came under
scrutiny as he was beaten to the green jersey at the Tour de France by Biniam
Girmay.
Despite still winning three stages at the Tour, Girmay had built an
unassailable lead in the points classification, leaving some to question
whether Philipsen’s spring ambitions had cost him the chance to retain the
jersey.
Looking ahead, Philipsen’s schedule is packed with major
one-day races before his return to the Tour de France in July. His calendar
includes Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (March 1), Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne (March 2),
Milano-Sanremo (March 22), Classic Brugge-De Panne (March 26), Dwars door
Vlaanderen (April 2), and Paris-Roubaix (April 13), before shifting his focus
back to sprinting at the Tour de France (July 5-27).
Fin MajorCycling Journalist
Fin Major is a UK-based writer at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2024. He is the site’s main writer for FAQs and evergreen explainers and has written around 2,000 pieces for the platform. Alongside this work, he focuses on in-depth analysis and covers the biggest races on the calendar, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, providing clear context around performance trends, tactics, and key storylines.
In his reporting, Fin uses reputable data sources such as ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available. Outside of writing, Fin is an active cyclist, which supports his practical understanding of the sport and its demands.
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- More to the point, it isn't his remaining goal.Renz08-11-2026
- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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