Jasper Philipsen held back by Brugge-De Panne carnage but this time doesn't hit the deck: "I'm happy I managed to stay upright"
Cycling
As one of the more overlooked Belgian WT races, this year's Classic Brugge-De Panne promised a showdown between all the fastest men on the planet - Tim Merlier, Jonathan Milan, Jasper Philipsen, Olav Kooij and more. But at the end, only the Italian got to fight for victory. However even Milan lost to Juan Sebastian Molano.
Philipsen was held back in a crash that took out his rival Merlier in last kilometers and only rolled over the line in 47th place. "There were a lot of narrowing and that’s why they fell at the front," the leader of Alpecin-Deceuninck describes the final at Sporza after the finish. "I was just behind them and stayed upright, I’m happy about that."
For the most of the race, it was relatively calm in the peloton since the forecast didn't predict any crosswinds action. "Otherwise it was an easy race. The wind wasn’t great, so it was going to be nervous," he refers to the final, because a fully intact peloton would enter the last kilometers together.
What Philipsen predicted also happened. Several crashes caused many victims, including competitors such as Tim Merlier and Olav Kooij. Philipsen himself got caught in the crossfire, but luckily managed to stay upright.
"I hoped that everyone would be spared, but that turned out not to be the case," Philipsen responds. "I had to brake hard myself and lost the connection, that was in the last kilometer. Then you know that it is not going to work. I would have liked to participate, but I also have to look at the positive side. Furthermore, it is a shame that we could not fight for the victory."
Last week Philipsen crashed hard in the dangerously-designed final of Nokere Koerse. He still participated at Milano-Sanremo, the monument he won last year, but still felt consequences of his fall earlier that week. Philipsen should be back in action this Sunday at Gent-Wevelgem.
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- maybe. what makes that a LITTLE fishy is that they suddenly hit the gas and started hammering it. even mathieu, who i’ve never heard complain about ANYTHING (other than teenage girls waking him up and being spit on by belgians) was pretty hacked off about the race tactics after the split. i think he was upset for what his teammates had to do, not for the fact he ended up isolated as a result.OCexile31-03-2025
- It seems that in E3 it wasn’t legit to criticise teams that « took advantage » because there was no radio communication about the incident so they couldn’t know to slow down. Only one source so far but should be quite easy to verify.Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- mads SMOKED it at ghent! love that guy. he’s just the best interview ever, always smart and hilarious and with a biting intolerance for stupidity. happy for him. just as a secondary thought, consider that mvdp beat THAT version of mads by a full minute at E3 two days ago. the gap between pog/mvdp and even tho other GREAT riders like mads is kinda staggering to comprehend. this is a time in cycling history that’s certainly worth paying attention to while it lasts.OCexile31-03-2025
- i watched the race. jasper and roodhooft have a legit anger about this. alpecin burned everyone to pull it back. they did the SAME THING after the split in E3, burning all their guys and thus leaving mathieu to fend for himself (which worked out ok because van der poel is van der poel, but still…). yeah, christopher and jasper should be a little pissed this time.OCexile30-03-2025
- Mads, Ganna, MvdP, Pogi were all in MSR, and will all be in both RVV and PR, the problem here is Remco because he doesn't race anything. This year because of injuries, before that, no idea why notvappaxbipmv30-03-2025
- Will it take oil money to get Mads, Remco, Tadej, Ganna and MVDP to line up for the same classic or monument or will Lady Luck help us with this one.Mistermaumau30-03-2025
- Reminds me of Jungels, instead of discovering what’s wrong, obsessing with getting back to form and making it worse. Could even be he’s built up this mental blockage due to concentrating too much on duelling with (a usually better) MVDP for 15y instead of doing his “own thing”. He was never as good in his head as when he was enjoying exploring his possibilities in the Tour when there was no risk of having to compete with his arch rival.Mistermaumau30-03-2025
- I’m using it here to describe the full pattern of speech. Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia, and all that.RidesHills30-03-2025
- That finale in Barcelona has to be one of the most beautiful circuits ever raced on. Chapeau to Primoz Roglic on taking charge of the race like that, and earning himself a very nice victory.
santiagobenites30-03-2025 - As predictable as the sun coming up in the morning.santiagobenites30-03-2025