"Roxanne Facetimed me immediately after the win" - Partners of Mathieu van der Poel & Jasper Philipsen shared emotional moment post-Milano-Sanremo
Cycling
Whilst Jasper Philipsen was sprinting to arguably the biggest win of his career, the Belgian's partner, Melanie Peetermans was stuck in work. Thankfully, Roxanne Bertels, partner of Mathieu van der Poel came to the rescue.
A real estate agent, Peetermans was unable to travel to Sanremo to be alongside her partner at the finish line, instead consigned to watching along on the TV. "My colleague and I set up the livestream," she explains in conversation with Flemish radio station MNM. "That way we were able to follow the race a little bit."
Just moments after van der Poel had helped fire Philipsen to Monument glory, Bertels came through for Peetermans to set up a celebratory moment for her and the Milano-Sanremo winner. "Roxanne facetimed me immediately after the win. She crawled among the nest of journalists to give us that moment," Peetermans reflects warmly. "I am super grateful to her for that."
"When we got home from Zaventem, we watched the last 30 kilometres together again. That was funny. Jasper knew perfectly what was going to happen, but I didn't," Peetermans concludes. "He then explained how he experienced that moment. That was super cool. Unlike at the Tour, Jasper has no rest now. He is again working super hard and eating healthy for the upcoming goals."
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And we, what are we doing?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And yet, it attracts people, even you. What’s more, it attracts the rival fanboys to fill cyberspace with endless pointless my hero is better than your hero blabla that’s all been heard before and only helps sell the site as an advertising platform. You know what the solution is but most can’t resist. No different than women who follow and discuss celebs through gossip magazines.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- he is doing 460 watts for 35 min to achieve 7 w/kg with VO2 at 96 , just unreal numbers.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just do it, and put up with the consequencesJumpyjohn08-11-2026
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- exactly, he had an amazing season, but with these overstatements they don‘t do him good.Ketterechts08-11-2026
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🤩 The greatest Ultimo Kilometro in cycling once again lives up to its reputation 🇧🇪 @JasperPhilipsen wins ahead of 🇦🇺 @blingmatthews and 🇸🇮 @TamauPogi #MilanoSanremo presented by @CA_Ita
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