"It's sh*t for us" - Jasper Philipsen blames bad luck and freak situation on Vuelta a Espana loss

No matter how strong you are, luck is always a necessity to succeed in cycling and today that was not on the side of Jasper Philipsen. Alpecin-Deceuninck did the perfect job to launch the Belgian into a potential second stage win at this Vuelta a Espana, but an error in communication during the final sprint caused Philipsen to lose out to Ben Turner.

In words to Eurosport, the Belgian explained that it was a relief that early in the day there weren't many attacks, and that it was possible to control the stage calmly towards a bunch sprint instead of having to chase a breakaway all day long with high pace. "It was fast on the first climb. Once the breakaway was formed, we rode a good pace and controlled for a sprint".

A sprint was inevitable in the French city of Voiron, but a slight uphill finale awaited the riders. Unlike stage 1 where Philipsen was by far the fastest, this sprint would also require great form, something which the 27-year old has not yet been able to reach. Nevertheless his chances of succeeding looked good when Edward Planckaert entered the 300-meter long finishing straight in the head of the peloton followed by Philipsen.

"We were doing really well with the team, and Edward was incredibly strong," he aknowledges. But in the moment of launching his sprint something went wrong, something which does not usually happen for two members of a leadout at this point of stage, but left Philipsen wondering 'what if'.

"I wanted to pass him on the left, but he couldn't hear me because of all the spectators. That caused me to lose some speed and momentum," he explained. Naturally, it was a bitter second place behind the INEOS Grenadiers rider.

"It's shit for us, but we were very strong. And honestly, I didn't have the best legs either. The road wasn't completely straight, and that made it a bit harder to pass, but we still have to analyze it all. My feeling is definitely not good either". This second place also means that Philipsen narrowly missed jumping back into the lead of the points classification, now headed by Mads Pedersen.