PRESS CONFERENCE | Albert Philipsen idolizes Pogacar and van der Poel - "It's definitely something I strive to be in the future"

Out of all the riders that spoke at Lidl-Trek's media day this Friday afternoon, the youngest out of all was Albert Philipsen. At age 19, the Danish rider is a huge promise in the cycling world. A multi-disciplinary specialist, Philipsen hopes to grow into the level of some of his idols such as Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel. CyclingUpToDate and other news outlets sat down with the Dane to hear his thoughts.

There's good reason to believe in the potential of this hypothesis too, in 2023 he was mountain bike and road race junior world champion, whilst at the same time combining that with a national title at the Danish cyclocross nationals. A talent such as that doesn't come about often, and Lidl-Trek made sure they signed him on the dot, bringing him to the World Tour at the tender age of 18.

But there was no slow process to adapt to racing against the big guns. Immediately, he won the youth classification at the Tour Down Under; finished 25th at the brutal Strade Bianche; won the under-23 Paris-Roubaix; finished sixth at Eschborn-Frankfurt; and finished the season with impressive podium finishes at Tre Valli Varesine (together with Tadej Pogacar and Julian Alaphilippe), and Paris-Tours.

There is a lot the team can expect of the Dane, yet another who fills its ranks with tons of talent. However managing such a talented rider is no easy task, specially when tough decisions have to be made to forego some goals or big races.

I don't think I want to specify what kind of rider I am so far. I really enjoy being able to do a bit of everything, a bit of the classics, climbing races, cobbled races, gravel races, a little bit of everything. I think it's quite interesting and good for my development. So far I'm riding all these different kinds of races, so far I like which kind of rider I am as an all-rounder and in the future I can specify a bit more.

It was only my first year and hopefully I have a long career ahead of me, so I see no reason to rush anything or try to make any fast decisions. I'll just take it how it comes.

I would say the hard one, the race. It's something like Strade, I really, really enjoyed it. I think that's what I enjoy the most when I'm riding.

Yeah, for sure. Maybe I develop that direction in a few years, we'll see. And maybe I'll come back to the classics and only want to do the hard races.

I'll definitely get a bit more experience with the spring classics. So I think I'll be in the group for the cobbled classics in the start of the year mainly to help and to gain the experience. And for the rest of the season, I'll do a bit like I did this year with some different kind of terrains and races.

Still a bit uncertain. There is an opening that maybe it's possible to do the Vuelta, but there's no decision made right now. It's something me and the team have to think about when we get a bit further into the year and see if I'm ready for it.

I think there's so much to learn from Mads. As you said, he's one of the best classics riders in the peloton. He has such a presence and so much experience. So I think it's unlimited how many things I can learn from him.

Of course it was a different world of cycling that I didn't experience before but I think from quite a young age I've been putting a lot of pressure on myself already. So having the pressure from the outside was not a big surprise to me. So I think I quite quickly got used to handling it.

It's a bit weird in some way. But we're all still humans and I'm still the same person that I was before. Nobody knew my name.

I would definitely say Mads is the one I was looking to if I needed advice on anything. He's such a good leader and he has a really good balance with how he deals with the cycling world. So I think he's a good example of what could be nice to be in the future.

I think I would prefer to show in the races than to speak about it in interviews. And I don't really have a rush with anything. So maybe I do a big result next year, maybe it takes three more years. But I think if I carry on with my development, the results will come in the future.

I think it's mainly because there are so many fast riders in Denmark that we kind of develop each other. The level is so high from such a young age. And the competition is pretty crazy. So I think this pushes everybody to get better. And then you'll always be a little bit in front of everybody else.

Yeah, for sure. I would say, at least in the coming years, I would like to do road cycling and mountain biking. Now I don't do any more cyclocross, but those two disciplines I would like to combine. I have a bit of a dream of going to the Olympics on a mountain bike in 2028. So I think with the team, we're trying to make a timeline that goes until then between two disciplines. And then we can reevaluate after that. So far, I just enjoy doing both disciplines. But if it comes to a point where there's no enjoyment in it anymore, then I will stop on the mountain bike and only do road.

For sure, the road is the main discipline for me. It's where I want to be the best rider in the future.

I think I started riding on the mountain bike when I was five, because my brother started. And then I did mountain biking from then until I was 14, 15 and got my first road bike there. And then I didn't think I was going to do so much on the road. I was just doing it for training. And then when I was 17, I did a few races on the road, but didn't really think about it. It was actually first when I won the world championships in junior that I decided, okay, now I start to focus more on the road.

My dad was cycling a bit both mountain bike and road. But it's not like a professional level or anything. But I would say we were probably a cycling family, because most of us was riding a bike.

No, I don't think so. I think it doesn't change so much. Maybe there's a bit more expectations from the outside, but it's not really because I put more pressure on myself, just because I achieved some of these results in the end of the season. I think it was a super nice confidence boost and definitely something I can carry into next year. I think it will be super good for my racing to have achieved these goals and have ridden these finals, but it's not because I feel like it makes a huge difference in the pressure.

I don't think so. I think it's not because I don't read every interview that comes out about me. I just try to be myself and not think so much about what everyone else wants me to be, but more what I want to be myself.

Yeah, me and Paul had some super nice battles in junior. He was really, really strong and a nice competitor. I think we maybe went into two different directions a bit this year. He developed more into a GC rider and I developed more into a one-day racer, but I think for sure we will meet a couple of times in the coming years and it's going to be a good battle.

It was a super nice competitor to have. I think all battles were really fair and I like him as a person. I think he's a nice guy. He was just the strongest guy who was winning and I like that.

I definitely hope to be one of these names in the future. Maybe it's in two years, maybe it's in five. I think I need to have a bit of patience and not rush anything. Just see how my development goes and take it from there.

Of course I think it makes cycling a lot more enjoyable to watch when you have these big rivalries. It's for sure something I would like to in the future be able to give back to the sport. Also watching cycling as a kid, it was super nice to see some of these battles. It would be really cool to be able to create them.

I knew this would come, but I don't remember specifically.

To be honest, it was not because I was watching a lot of road cycling when I was younger. I was more watching mountain biking. It's not because I can pinpoint a lot of crazy races I've watched. It was more in the last few years that I've really been looking more into the road cycling.

I think Nino Schurter was the idol in mountain biking. He was the biggest and best rider probably there's ever been, in my opinion. Of course, some current riders I still go to, like Mathieu [van der Poel], Pogi (Tadej Pogacar, ed.) or someone like this. It's definitely something I strive to be in the future.

I think it's possible, but I think it takes more energy than it did five years ago. I think it's more difficult. Everything is also getting optimized now in mountain biking. Everybody is at such a high level that it's a bit naive to think that you can just jump on the bike and really perform. I think this is also a mistake I made myself this year: Not putting in enough effort to really perform. This resulted in just getting injured or crashing or doing something else stupid. I think it's still possible, but you need some more specific work. You need to really make a smart plan on how to do it.

I don't know what, actually. I don't think so.

That would definitely make the chances of getting a good result better. I think next year I will probably only do some World Cups, maybe some national races if I have time. And just do it to keep the feeling of the sport and of the bike. And then in 2027 maybe I can go to the World Championships if it fits in my program. 28 now, let's see if it's possible to go to the Olympic Games.

I think there is so much technique involved in mountain biking. Everybody is also riding so fast now that it's not because you can just be the strongest and then expect to win. You can really lose the race by not being technically good enough. So I would agree with that, that it's quite a hard change from the road to mountain biking. Also the way of the racing is quite different. It's one and a half hours full gas, but it's also quite anaerobic. It's like doing one minute full gas and then trying to recover while going down a super technical descent. So if you cannot combine these things, it's impossible to improve yourself.

It's still not 100% confirmed, but I definitely don't go to Australia this year or next year. But I think I will start my season quite early, maybe at the end of January or at the start of February. Which is Mallorca.

Yes.

It's hard to say specifically what made a big difference. To be honest I think the biggest change was finally having a bit more time. Just to relax and to train and get a bit more consistency in what I was doing. I think jumping from juniors to world tour is a really big step and it creates a lot of stress. Also with all the travelling and more races and stuff like this. So I was getting sick quite a lot after the big races. I think at the end of the season I was finally feeling a bit more comfortable in this new environment. And also feeling more confident than before. And I think this was probably the biggest change from the first part of the year to the end.