"Until April I am a classics rider, from May I am a sprinter" - 'Classics rider' Jasper Philipsen is not bothered by another defeat at UAE Tour

Jasper Philipsen was not destined for a stage victory at this year's ultra-stacked UAE Tour. He put up a good fight against the other two fastest men on the planet, but couldn't quite crack both Jonathan Milan and Tim Merlier at the same day. Second place was once again Philipsen's maximum on the last flat stage on Saturday.

"Tim came from behind at high speed. A fair sprint. I had nothing to say against it," were Philipsen's first reactions to Het Nieuwsblad after another podium in today's stage 6.

Three podium results (two after relegation in stage 1), are not what quite what he had come for to United Arab Emirates, but that doesn't worry the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider too much. "Winning would have been nice. But it is different now. The world keeps turning, because this race was not an A-goal," Philipsen points out.

The 26-year-old Belgian seems to be missing a few watts to compete against the best, perhaps a side-effect of increased training volumes? "I have trained very hard the last month," Philipsen agreed. "That is why I do not have the fastest sprinter's legs at the moment. I have a good basic speed, but I miss that extra punch or acceleration that Tim had here."

But there's still a long way to go till Philipsen's main sprinter objective of the season: "In the Tour, those flashes will definitely have to be there. Then it will have to be a level higher in the sprints."

As he said half-laughing ten days ago: "Until April I am a classics rider, from May I am a sprinter." This approach should reward Philipsen in next month's races. "At the moment I am mainly looking at the classics. That is what I have worked towards the most. Then these results may not be illogical."

"I am happy with the feeling of the past week," Philipsen concluded. "But it is so difficult to draw conclusions from this. The stages here are too easy for that. It is never really hard. You ride here at an average of 150 watts, a bit of a cycling tourist can follow that. Soon, in Flanders, the racing will be very different." If everything goes according to the plan, nobody will remember some UAE Tour anymore.