"This was a textbook example of finishing it together” - Jasper Philipsen plays Van der Poel card to perfection to win In Flanders Fields

Jasper Philipsen delivered on a long-standing target with victory at In Flanders Fields 2026, finishing off a chaotic race that had been turned on its head in the closing kilometres after Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert were brought back.

For much of the finale, the race appeared destined to be decided between those two rivals, who had forced clear on the Kemmelberg and built a narrow advantage into the final phase. But as the peloton reorganised behind and the gap collapsed inside the last 10 kilometres, the scenario shifted sharply back towards a sprint.

That change played directly into Alpecin-Premier Tech’s hands.

“It finally worked out. This has been a goal for a long time,” Philipsen said after the finish. “In previous editions, I never had the perfect feeling you need to win here, but today it was all or nothing. With Mathieu van der Poel up the road, we were in an ideal situation.”

The closing kilometres were anything but straightforward. Van der Poel and Van Aert were reeled in only inside the final stretch, before a late attack from Alec Segaert briefly threatened to disrupt the sprint setup once again.

Behind, teams had been committing fully to the chase. Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe drove the pace for Jordi Meeus, while other sprint teams worked to keep their leaders in contention as the race swung back together.

Despite the repeated accelerations and the toll of earlier efforts, Philipsen remained in position when it mattered. “It definitely wasn’t easy to get the legs feeling fresh again,” he explained. “I could still feel the fatigue from E3, and we were working with a new sprint train, but it’s great to win like this.”

When Segaert was caught and the sprint finally opened, Philipsen proved the fastest, beating Tobias Lund Andresen to the line to cap the fastest ever edition of the race.

The victory was as much about collective execution as individual speed. “This was a textbook example of finishing it together,” Philipsen said.

After a day defined by crosswinds, crashes and constant reshaping of the race, the outcome ultimately hinged on timing and control. With Van der Poel forcing the race open earlier and the team remaining composed as the situation evolved, Philipsen was left to complete the job. This time, everything aligned.