Jasper Philipsen wins the Scheldeprijs | Cycling

The history of Jasper Philipsen’s declared victory was not without conflict. In the last two hundred meters he had to keep his legs still twice and then he was also lucky because Edward Theon (Trek-Segafredo, sixth) was athletic and didn’t lock the door on the left.
Thunes: “What do I gain if I close the door?”
Philips: “I was glad Edward played it fair, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to sleep so well.”

After Bruges–De Panne, Philipsen won its second major race date in the Flemish Spring. At De Panne he won a four-race after an encouraging race, at Schoten it was a real race. “Winning a sprint against this field of entrants with all those great names gives a lot of confidence for what follows in the Tour.”

Philipsen has already won two mass sprints in Tirreno-Adriatico this season. Last year, he also won the final stage of the Tour des Champs-Elysées, which is called the Sprinters’ World Cup – if that term doesn’t apply to the Sheldeprijs.

Is he currently the fastest runner in the world? “I just want to win as many races as possible. I may not be the fastest, but I belong to the club of the fastest men: Jacobsen, Ewan and Groenewegen.”

According to sports director Christoph Roudhoft from Alpecin-Deceuninck, Philipsen can hit the table with his fist and claim this title: “At the moment Jasper is the fastest of all.”

The fastest in the group won in two shots, but the sprint train was there, too. “It was good to see that we took the lead ourselves. It’s been a long way and I thought it was very ambitious, but we made it to the finish line. Mateo made a very long turn. Only he can do that, and after that we still have strong guys.” Like Jonas Rikaart and Ramon Sinkeldam behind us. They made me feel completely at ease on a hectic tour.”

Ricart was the last man before Philipsen. The 29-year-old from West Flanders is his favourite, but he suffered two pinched femoral arteries last year. It was the first group race in which Philipsen could count on Rikaart as the last man since the UAE Tour in February 2022. “It went really well. The great thing is we didn’t have a tactical meeting before the race, where it was discussed how we were going to start the race and who was going to What… I intuitively chose to wheel Jonas, who dropped me off behind Ewan’s train,” says Phillips.

In January, Rikaart hoped with a fearful heart that he would be ready to tour. Although he fell ill briefly at the end of March, he is ahead of schedule.

Philips: “I hope Ricky makes it to the Tour. So far his leg and hip are in good shape. In the coming weeks he has to do grueling tests, because he just couldn’t do that yet and he’s going to play a part in the Tour. This beautiful sprint should definitely motivate him.”
Roodhoft: “Jonas still has work to do, and we know that. It wasn’t a tough race, but he was there in the final. That was a good start for him to do in the sprints.”

It is up to Rikaart to take steps forward in the coming weeks. Initially without Philipsen, as he will take a break from Monday. “Paris-Roubaix is ​​the last race of my spring. It is of course a dream to win there myself one day, but I will start in the serving role. Mathieu is in very good shape. We will try to lead him to victory by entering the final with many pawns. Two years ago I was on the journey. The first one was able to get the job done,” Phillipsen says.