Jasper Philipsen beats Jordi Meeus to win crash-marred Sparkassen Munsterland Giro

Jasper Philipsen has won the Sparkassen Münsterland Giro; the German race finished in a bunch sprint and the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider was the fastest in the final meters to take his ninth win of the season.

A breakaway of seven riders formed early in the day and took up the head of the race throughout most of the day. Four of them had a strong pace through the hilly terrain of the race: Tosh van der Sande, Jannik Steimle, Adrien Maire and Luca Drebler put some tension in the peloton and forced a strong pace to be present behind.

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Some attacks in the peloton also put a lot under difficulties through the hills with Visma being quite active. The breakaway though was ultimately caught with 22 kilometers to go and a bunch sprint was unavoidable.

Intermarcé - Wanty, Alpecin-Deceuninck, Lidl-Trek and Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe all had numbers into the final kilometer and had quite an exciting leadout battle which proved chaotic, specially after a crash just outside the final kilometer.

Red Bull had the upper hand and launched Jordi Meeus perfectly for the sprint, but Jasper Philipsen was in the wheel and was by far the strongest in the dash to the line. He took the win ahead of Meeus and Milan Fretin who surprised into third spot on the day.