"When you come so close, you hope to win" - Jasper Philipsen runner-up in a third sprint at this Tour de France
Cycling
This Tour de France is turning into something of a nightmare for Jasper Philipsen. Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises didn't break Philipsen's curse but he remains confident heading into Sunday's gravel stage. The Alpecin-Deceuninck sprinter is not performing poorly, but a crash, a relegation and two second places - that's far from what the Belgian winner of last year's Points classification had hoped for.
"It’s okay in terms of frustrations, but at the moment it’s all going the wrong way," said Philipsen according to Het Nieusblad at the finish. "Last year it went the right way, this year it didn’t. You have to live with that. The sprint? I didn’t think I would finish so close. I didn’t feel great all day. It was a tough stage and then with this finish... But when you come so close, you hope to win."
"I don’t think I’m much worse than last year, because I wouldn't have come second three times if I was. Normally I’m at a good level, but it has to turn around and when that happens we’re off. The real confidence comes when you start taking victories... It’s not that far. The day before yesterday was close, today was close."
Former winner of the Maglia Cicclamino is "The green? There are still five chances and therefore many points to be gained. Girmay is riding very well, but something can always happen. We will stay alert and then we will see. Tomorrow's gravel stage? Normally that should suit us, so we will be sharp."
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- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- Ok, happy I’m not too interested in this team coz’ the account of what happened is really hard to follow.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- The UCI is worse than USA CyclingVeganpotter24-12-2024
- It's not like they wanted her to not win😅 She had an outstanding Olympics. But there's a reason why she wasn't expected to win the road race and that's ok. Things like this happen and it's great...better than seeing expected winners win.Veganpotter24-12-2024
- Bruyneel ? The man with a lifetime ban from cycling...why do you keep giving him and his doper mate, Armstrong, a platform?DJ24-12-2024
- yeah, agree. on the subject of being a “complete rider,” i do think that’s getting more interesting. mathieu seems to have decided he wants to get much better at climbing the the high mountain passes. he appears to be looking for new challenges, which should be interesting to watch. in most cases you’d dismiss a goal like that at age 30, but it’s mvdp. he’s never going to climb with the real climbers, but if he can improve enough it could open up stage wins when the parcours isnt just purely toothy and punchy.OCexile24-12-2024