“The first sprint is always exciting" - Jasper Philipsen determined to lay down early Tour de France marker on stage 3
Cycling
After two challenging opening days at the 2024 Tour de France, stage 3 provides a first chance for the sprinters. Favoured more than anyone else, last year's Green Jersey winner Jasper Philipsen is determined to lay down an early marker.
“Must win is a big word, but of course I want to win and we are certainly capable of it. But everything has to go well,” says the 26-year-old Belgian sprinter of Alpecin-Deceuninck, who took four stage wins at the 2023 edition of the Tour de France and has six Tour wins in total, in a pre-stage 3 interview with the assembled press, including Wielerflits.
Aside from the raw power in his legs, another big benefit for Philipsen is the incredible leadout he has with the Alpecin-Deceuninck team, most notably being able to call upon the current world champion, Mathieu van der Poel as his final man in the sprint. "We rode the Baloise Belgium Tour with Robbe Ghys and Jonas Rickaert, who are there now, and then Mathieu joins them," details Philipsen. "In the best case, we can fully exploit that potential, but let's see how it goes."
Ahead of the expected first sprint finish, there isn't clear knowledge on who the superior sprinter is at this year's edition, despite the cards more than likely favouring Philipsen. As such, stage 3 offers a chance for the Belgian to put a marker down and let all the rest of the peloton's fast men know, that he remains the dominant force on the flat stages.
“The first sprint is always exciting, the value ratios still have to be determined. There are a lot of fast guys on paper, but I'm looking forward to it," Philipsen concludes. “I hope to measure myself today and seize the opportunity immediately. There will still be opportunities, but today would be nice. Everyone wants to score straight away, but we are only on day three. It will certainly be hectic.”
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.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - 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
Loading
Stage 3. The longest stage of this Tour, 230 km to Torino. A snoozefest, the first day for the sprinters. With MVDP as leadout, Jasper Philipsen is the big favourite but you never know. Pogacar will normally give yellow to Remco at the end. My pick: Mark Cavendish. #TDF2024
Write a comment