Jasper Philipsen

Jasper Philipsen (born 2 March 1998) is a Belgian professional cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam. Specialising as a sprinter, he has won nine stages in the Tour de France and three in the Vuelta a España, and the points classification in the 2023 Tour de France.

Early years
From 2010, Philipsen rode for the Royal Balen BC team. In 2015, he became national junior time trial champion. Later that year, he finished eighth at the European championships in the same discipline and sixth at the world championships. One year on, Philipsen won the Guido Reybrouck Classic and E3 Harelbeke for juniors, and successfully defended his national time trial title. In addition, in the same year he finished fifth in Paris-Roubaix for juniors and 11th in the Omloop der Vlaamse Gewesten. Philipsen made the cut for both the time trial and the road race at the world championships in Doha. Upon the time trial, in which he set the 18th fastest time, he was hospitalised with exhaustion and overheating. Although Philipsen appeared to have convalesced, he didn't make the road race three days later. On 1 April 2017, Philipsen secured his first UCI victory as an elite rider, for the BMC Development Team team. In the second stage of the Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux, he beat fellow-Belgian Milan Menten and Dutchman Maarten van Trijp in the bunch sprint. The day after, courtesy to a fifth place in the individual time trial, he snatched the leader's jersey from Chris Lawless. In the final stage, he finished fourth, taking not only the overall classification, but also the points ranking and youth classification. After finishing second in both the Tour of Flanders U23 and the ZLM Tour, he won a stage in the Baby Giro in June. In the points ranking, he kept one point ahead of Neilson Powless. In July, he won the second stage in the Tour of Alsace, after which he rode the hopefuls road races at both the European and national level. In the fifth stage of the Olympia's Tour, he beat Patrick van der Duin and Fabio Jakobsen in the bunch sprint. In October, he won Paris–Tours Espoirs.

Professional career
In 2018, Philipsen became professional at Hagens Berman Axeon. He took several victories that year, including the overall classification of the Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux and a stage in the Baby Giro. In October, he was offered a contract with UAE Team Emirates. Through this team, he made the switch to the World Tour.

Philipsen made the startlist for the 2019 Tour de France. He participated in the 2020 Vuelta a España, where he won stage 15. He participated in his second Tour de France in 2021 and while he did not win any stages he had many promising results including making the stage podium a half dozen times. He rode in the 2021 Vuelta a España where he won two stages. He also wore the points ranking jersey in several stages, vying with Fabio Jakobsen for the jersey, before abandoned halfway through due to a mild fever. Early in the 2022 season he won the points ranking and two stages of the UAE Tour. He then won the points ranking and a stage in the Tour of Turkey and a stage in the Tour of Belgium.

He entered the 2022 Tour de France with the team pursuing stage wins for both Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel. Philipsen initially thought he had won stage 4, but Wout Van Aert turned out to have taken the peloton by surprise, attacking as the yellow jersey. After the Alps he got a chance to win stage 15 after the final breakaway rider had been run down during the final kilometre. He managed to outpace previous stage winners Van Aert and Mads Pedersen, taking the team's first win of the race. His second stage win came on the final day in Paris, winning the sprint by a convincing margin.

In March 2023, he won his second World Tour one-day race: the Classic Brugge–De Panne, outsprinting Olav Kooij and Yves Lampaert only a week after winning two stages of Tirreno–Adriatico. Two weeks later, he won Scheldeprijs for the second time. Five days later, he outkicked Wout Van Aert to take second at Paris–Roubaix. This was his first podium in a Monument. At the Tour de France, he won stages 3, 4, 7 and 11, all of which were sprint finishes. This led him to ultimately win the points classification by over 100 points to second placed Mads Pedersen. Philipsen went on to win nine more races in the season, leading to a total of 19 victories.

Philipsen kicked off 2024 in a similar fashion, winning one stage and finishing second in another at Tirreno–Adriatico. He then won his first Monument: Milan–San Remo in a sprint finish, ahead of Michael Matthews and Tadej Pogačar. Four days later, he defended his title at the Classic Brugge–De Panne, and again had a repeat of last year at Paris–Roubaix, where he again placed second to teammate Mathieu van der Poel. After 3 second place finishes in a row on sprint stages, Philipsen won stage 10 of the 2024 Tour de France, his first of the Tour. He went on to also win stages 13 and 16.

Riding style
Sports journalists occasionally compare Jasper Philipsen to Tom Boonen, as both hail from the same region in Flanders and are routinely qualified as sprinters, specialising in classics.

Philipsen is one of the most explosive cyclists of his generation. By 2022, several international specialized media considered him to be the best sprinter in the world.

He drew some criticism for his riding style during the 2023 Tour de France, as he appeared to interfere with other riders on several stages. This criticism reemerged during the 2024 Tour, as he was relegated to the back of the peleton for interfering with Wout van Aert in a bunch sprint; costing him green jersey points as he had originally finished second.

Major results

 * 2015
 * 1st MaillotBélgica.PNG Time trial, National Junior Road Championships
 * 2nd Omloop der Vlaamse Gewesten
 * 3rd Guido Reybrouck Classic
 * 4th La Philippe Gilbert Juniors
 * 4th Paris–Roubaix Juniors
 * 5th Overall Trophée Centre Morbihan


 * 2016
 * 1st MaillotBélgica.PNG Time trial, National Junior Road Championships
 * 1st E3 Harelbeke Juniors
 * 1st Guido Reybrouck Classic
 * 3rd Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne Juniors
 * 5th Paris–Roubaix Juniors
 * 10th Overall Grand Prix Rüebliland


 * 2017
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux
 * 1st Stage 2
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Jersey white.svg Young rider classification
 * 1st Paris–Tours Espoirs
 * Giro Ciclistico d'Italia
 * 1st Jersey red.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stage 4
 * 1st Stage 2 Tour Alsace
 * 1st Stage 5 Olympia's Tour
 * 2nd Ronde van Vlaanderen Beloften
 * 2nd ZLM Tour
 * 4th Berner Rundfahrt


 * 2018 (1 pro win)
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stages 1 & 2
 * 1st Gylne Gutuer
 * 1st Stage 4 Tour of Utah
 * 1st Stage 3 Giro Ciclistico d'Italia
 * 3rd Three Days of Bruges–De Panne
 * 4th Tour de l'Eurométropole
 * 4th Paris–Roubaix Espoirs
 * 5th Dorpenomloop Rucphen
 * 6th Grote Prijs Jef Scherens
 * 7th Grand Prix d'Isbergues
 * 8th Primus Classic
 * 9th Lillehammer GP


 * 2019 (1)
 * 1st Stage 5 Tour Down Under
 * 2nd Grand Prix de Fourmies
 * 2nd Heistse Pijl
 * 3rd Nokere Koerse
 * 3rd Elfstedenronde
 * 3rd Brussels Cycling Classic
 * 5th Dwars door het Hageland
 * 6th Overall Tour of Belgium
 * 9th Scheldeprijs


 * 2020 (3)
 * 1st Stage 15 Vuelta a España
 * 1st Stage 1 BinckBank Tour
 * 1st Stage 3 Tour du Limousin
 * 1st Jersey blue.svg Sprints classification, Tour Down Under
 * 5th Scheldeprijs
 * 5th Brussels Cycling Classic
 * 9th Druivenkoers Overijse


 * 2021 (9)
 * 1st Jersey yellow flanders.svg Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
 * 1st Eschborn–Frankfurt
 * 1st Scheldeprijs
 * 1st Grand Prix de Denain
 * 1st Paris–Chauny
 * Vuelta a España
 * 1st Stages 2 & 5
 * Held Jersey green.svg after Stages 2–3, 5–7
 * Tour of Turkey
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stages 6 & 7
 * 2nd Classic Brugge–De Panne


 * 2022 (9)
 * 1st Omloop van het Houtland
 * 1st Paris–Bourges
 * Tour de France
 * 1st Stages 15 & 21
 * UAE Tour
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stages 1 & 5
 * Tour of Turkey
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stage 3
 * 1st Stage 4 Danmark Rundt
 * 2nd Münsterland Giro
 * 2nd Gooikse Pijl
 * 3rd Road race, National Road Championships
 * 4th Druivenkoers Overijse
 * 6th Hamburg Cyclassics
 * 6th Rund um Köln
 * 6th Grand Prix de Wallonie
 * 8th Overall Tour of Belgium
 * 1st Stage 2
 * 8th Scheldeprijs


 * 2023 (19)
 * 1st Jersey yellow flanders.svg Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
 * 1st Classic Brugge–De Panne
 * 1st Scheldeprijs
 * 1st Elfstedenronde
 * 1st Gooikse Pijl
 * 1st Paris–Chauny
 * 1st Visit Friesland Elfsteden Race
 * Tour de France
 * 1st Points classification
 * 1st Stages 3, 4, 7 & 11
 * Tour of Turkey
 * 1st Points classification
 * 1st Stages 1, 2, 4 & 8
 * Tirreno–Adriatico
 * 1st Stages 3 & 7
 * 1st Stage 1 Renewi Tour
 * 1st Stage 1 Tour of Belgium
 * 2nd Paris–Roubaix
 * 4th Dwars door Vlaanderen


 * 2024 (7)
 * 1st Milan–San Remo
 * 1st Classic Brugge–De Panne
 * Tour de France
 * 1st Stages 10, 13 & 16
 * 1st Stage 2 Tirreno–Adriatico
 * 2nd Road race, National Road Championships
 * 2nd Paris–Roubaix
 * 2nd Scheldeprijs
 * 3rd Nokere Koerse
 * 4th Overall Tour of Belgium
 * 1st Points classification
 * 1st Stage 3
 * 4th Gent–Wevelgem

Honours and awards

 * CyclingNews: Best Sprinter in the World: 2021, 2022, 2023
 * Most Victories in 1 Season: 19 in 2023
 * Flandrien of the Year – Best Professional Cyclist: 2023