who is Jasper Philipsen, the fastest car in the peloton? – Liberation

2023-07-07 11:48:17

Already winner of two stages in the Tour de France, the Belgian from Alpecin-Deceuninck is a class sprinter and a “dispersed teacher” in life. He will try to raise his arms a third time this Friday July 7 in Bordeaux.

Something that catches the eye. “The focus that can be detected in the end of a stage, raises his partner at Alpecin-Deceuninck, Dries De Bondt. A sprint is a tunnel: he sees what no one else can see. The curve of the turn, the moment when he has to make a decision… I’ve never seen that in anyone else. I admire him.”

Jasper Philipsen, 25, belongs to this very special category of the animal kingdom, that of the sprinters of the cycling peloton. Delirious, they ride their bikes at the speed of a Twingo launched full ball on departmental, “rub” their elbows, shoulders, chest their opponents, before throwing their handlebars on the line… This Friday, July 7, between Mont -de-Marsan and Bordeaux, the fastest car in the argus of the peloton will seek to raise its arms a third time in this Tour de France. Monday and Tuesday, in Bayonne and Nogaro, Philipsen, led by star Mathieu Van der Poel, has already settled the herd of sprinters, two victories and therefore the same harvest, after less than a week of racing, than last year. where he had won the queen stage of the hurry, the Champs-Elysées.

“Dispersed Professor”

His success and his sharp sprints have already caused a stir. In Bayonne, in a corner finish, Philipsen curves his trajectory and thus blocks the way for Wout van Aert. The race marshals deem the maneuver lawful but the sprinters’ severe burn victim, Fabio Jakobsen (swung beyond the barriers on a finish of the Tour of Poland in 2020, the Dutchman looked death in the eye), considers it “stupid and “dangerous”. The next day, in Nogaro, the same stumbles after contact with Philipsen’s wheel, in a festival of falls on this unusual arrival on a motor circuit. “It was very fast, we felt like racing cars. I am very happy not to have fallen, commented after the line the green jersey. I saw that there were many falls, I hope that the friends are well.

In life, De Bondt can no longer follow Philipsen. “Jasper is still in his own world. In the middle of a conversation, he starts throwing up completely different subjects all at once. The stock market, cars, skiing… When you want to tell him something, you have to do it quickly! In Flemish, we have an expression: he is a scattered teacher. You put him on a bike, and then his character changes.” De Bondt mentions his nickname, Jasper the Disaster (“the Disaster”), brought to light by Netflix in his series At the heart of the peloton and which he considers “not very nice”. The disasters in question are rather anecdotal – the man tends to forget his shoes on the bus, wow.

At the Nieuwsblad, Philipsen says: “I already drag this name with me from UAE-Emirates. Sven Erik Bystrom and Alexander Kristoff invented it. I think they picked that up at Netflix and then immediately slapped a story on it. They create more drama than there actually is. I had some reactions about it, but in the end, the series is correct, especially for the general public. The story in question: last year in Calais, the Belgian thinks he crossed the line in first position. He raises his arms, exults, and then realizes that Wout van Aert has beaten him to it. The big loser. The fact remains that on his first participation in the Tour, at 21, Philipsen was clairvoyant about the great circus in which he was setting foot: “I realize that I will end up in an insane asylum.”

thoroughbred speed

In his younger years, it was on another stylistic exercise, the time trial, that Philipsen excelled. He won several national junior titles, but changed gears after testing his thoroughbred speed. At home, Philipsen, somewhat in the shadow of world champion Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert, is considered a potential classicman, the elite of the peloton in Flanders. The man comes from Mol, in the province of Antwerp, like Tom Boonen, former idol of the multiple winners of Paris-Roubaix, but revered Mark Cavendish in his youth, the Briton with 34 Tour victories with whom he beat the do now.

Philipsen is not reluctant to change. In April, he finished second in Paris-Roubaix behind Mathieu van der Poel, one of his “favorite races”, “full of heroism”: “I dream of winning it one day.” A remnant of a previous edition of the Hell of the North, the sprinter appears on a snapshot of his Instagram account with his face, body and helmet smeared with mud. In comment, Philipsen licks his chops: “I really, really enjoyed it.”