one of cycling\u2019s most elusive milestones<\/a>.<\/p>\nPhilipsen remains one of the most versatile riders in the peloton, especially when the parcours is flat and bumpy rather than steep and selective.<\/p>\n
Much like his more famous Lamborghini-driving teammate, Philipsen tends to lose contact when the road gets steeper than a hilly Flemish driveway.<\/p>\n
But on favorable terrain like Milano-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix, he has shown he can go deep at a six-hour monument distance and still be there when it counts.<\/p>\n
And those just happen to be the two races that world No. 1 Poga\u010dar is desperately chasing to complete the rare monument sweep.<\/p>\n
Alpecin-Premier Tech has built its classics core around the tandem of Van der Poel and Philipsen, before shifting the \u201cVlam from Ham\u201d \u2014 the \u201cFlame from Ham,\u201d a nod to his hometown \u2014 into full sprint mode at the Tour de France.<\/p>\n
Things were rough for Philipsen in 2025, and he wants to make up for that with a hot spring campaign (see list below).<\/p>\n
After a big San Remo win in 2024, he couldn\u2019t defend his title last year after lining up still battered from a heavy crash at the 2025 Nokere Koerse just days earlier.<\/p>\n
When Poga\u010dar detonated the Cipressa, only Van der Poel and Filippo Ganna followed. Philipsen cracked and rolled home 163rd, a non-factor before the Poggio even began.<\/p>\n
Big circle around Roubaix
\n![\"Paris-Roubaix](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Z8B_0463-720x397.jpg\"\/)
Twice second, shown here in 2024, Philipsen pines for Roubaix glory. (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/p>\n
Twice runner-up in the \u201cHell of the North,\u201d both times behind Van der Poel, his 2025 bid also unraveled early.<\/p>\n
The Belgian hit the deck in the first half after tangling wheels on a cobbled sector. He remounted and tried to claw back, only to puncture, change bikes, and watch the decisive move disappear up the road.<\/p>\n
He salvaged 11th, but his chance was gone long before Van der Poel and Poga\u010dar melted into the dust.<\/p>\n
And then he crashed out of the Tour de France in stage 3 with a broken clavicle, but not before winning the opening stage and wearing the yellow jersey.<\/p>\n
Turning 28 in March, Philipsen has a big circle around Paris-Roubaix in April.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very passionate about Paris-Roubaix and I even get emotional thinking about it,\u201d Philipsen told Het Nieuwsblad over the winter. \u201c I started racing for races like Paris-Roubaix. They\u2019re in my DNA and of the team too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Van der Poel also barrels into the spring classics chasing fresh historical markers, but Philipsen insists there is no internal rivalry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Mathieu and I motivate each other to do better,\u201d he said. \u201cThe culture of the team is built around working for these races. We develop a plan, and we have a good group focused on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Mads Pedersen and Wout van Aert both nursing early-season injuries, do not be surprised if the rider capable of changing the script for the MVDP and Pog Show<\/a> is none other than Philipsen.<\/p>\nPhilipsen for spring 2026
\n![\"Philipsen\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Z8D_7242-720x450.jpg\"\/)
By a country mile, Philipsen won the opening stage at the 2025 Tour. (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/p>\n
Volta ao Algarve
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne
Nokere Koerse
Milano-Sanremo
Ronde Van Brugge
Gent-Wevelgem
Dwars door Vlaanderen
Scheldeprijs
Paris-Roubaix<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Philipsen builds toward Sanremo and Roubaix peak as the ultimate spring classics spoiler to cycling\u2019s dominant duo of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,54263,82,57420,75783,140390,102250,54266,54267],"class_list":{"0":"post-470010","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-parent_category-road","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tag-jasper-philipsen","14":"tag-tag-mathieu-van-der-poel","15":"tag-tag-milan-san-remo","16":"tag-tag-paris-roubaix","17":"tag-tag-tadej-pogacar","18":"tag-type-article"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Jasper](\"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/philipsen.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Philipsen\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2024-Tour-de-France-Stage-13-14-720x450.jpg\"\/)
Philipsen say he\u2019s a classics racer before pivoting to the bunch sprints. (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/p>\n