Jasper Philipsen accuses motorbikes of negatively influencing race: "Tell them that the motorbikes have already decided the race twice"
Cycling
Jasper Philipsen fell short for the second day in a row against a group of three on Friday, so that the Belgian was no more than fourth. Immediately afterwards, this caused some frustration, but that had subsided a bit later.
"Tell them that the motorbikes have already decided the race twice," the sprinter grumbled afterwards. He stopped by at Sporza's a little later when the adrenaline had already dropped a bit. "Forget about the motorbikes, I'm not going to comment that now. We rode full throttle and didn't come a meter shorter, so they must have been very strong," said the Belgian with a notch of irony in his voice.
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All in all, Philipsen looked back on a 'tough day' with companion Mathieu van der Poel in the leading group. "I'm going to have to get over it. Mathieu certainly had the chance to go clear and I would have liked to give something back to him, but in the end we got into a chase group and then I took the points. The goal was the stage and I would have liked to have won it with Mathieu. I now have the green jersey in my pocket, but we first have to cross the Vosges."
Sports director Bart Leysen drew the same conclusions. "Our riders were where they should have been. There was a strong group behind those three, but they were probably a bit stronger," with which he also didn't want to say much about the possible influence of motorbikes. "If so, the jury must intervene. We can't help that."
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses 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.
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- Congrats! It is done so now is time for CX.averagecyclist15-11-2026
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- mij, I am not so sure of that. I have been on a spine ward at a Denver hospital that had quite a few spinal injuries from mountain biking.BDBigGuy15-11-2026
- Pogi takes care of his teammates in races and training. Tadej Pogačar is widely praised within the cycling peloton for his fair and egalitarian leadership, actively supporting his UAE teammates both on the road during races and behind the scenes at training camps. Rather than acting like an untouchable superstar, he has intense team loyalty by sharing daily chores, giving up personal glory to help domestiques, and publicly praising their sacrifices. Unlike some Grand Tour contenders, like Vingegaard, who occasionally train away from their squads, Pogi consistently attends team training camps alongside his domestiques, making the exact same sacrifices to build friendship. I love how Pogačar shares his teammates-domestiques, either when they succeed or win in races or when they simply just do a good job for him. It has to be a great moral boost for them. And then they work even harder and go even deeper for Pogi. This is teamwork.PogiSloFans15-11-2026
- Yeah, what he said!Lozza15-11-2026
- I’m sure Jasper Philipsen would disagree with you.Lozza15-11-2026
- Article says he was “out for a spin around the town”, implying not off-road.Lozza15-11-2026
- let’s be honest, Alpecin is all about one rider - MVDP. I’m sure he gets whatever he needs, the rest get the scraps.mij15-11-2026
- there are more vicious injuries on a road bike than a mountain bike far and away.mij15-11-2026
- That'll be one crazy rider
Rafionain-Glas15-11-2026
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