{"id":250352,"date":"2025-11-08T01:21:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T01:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/250352\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T01:21:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T01:21:13","slug":"if-id-been-alone-it-wouldve-been-much-harder-jasper-philipsen-opens-up-on-mental-struggle-after-tour-crash-and-rediscovering-joy-alongside-van-der-poel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/250352\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIf I\u2019d been alone, it would\u2019ve been much harder\u201d \u2013 Jasper Philipsen opens up on mental struggle after Tour crash and rediscovering joy alongside Van der Poel"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a year of highs and hard knocks for Jasper Philipsen<\/a>. The Belgian sprinter, who began 2025 by winning Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and later pulled on both the yellow jersey at the Tour de France<\/a> and the red jersey at the Vuelta a Espana<\/a>, has revealed just how mentally draining the middle part of his season became \u2014 and how friendship ultimately helped him find his way back.Speaking to Tutto Bici Web<\/a>, the Alpecin-Deceuninck<\/a> rider admitted that the collarbone fracture which ended his Tour de France after just three days left a lasting mark not only on his body, but on his motivation too.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou spend months preparing for the Tour, you focus completely on it, and after three days it\u2019s all over,\u201d Philipsen recalled. \u201cYou end up in bed for the rest of July. Mentally, that\u2019s very hard. You work so much to be there, and suddenly you have to refocus on something else when the Tour is still going on.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nFinding motivation again<\/p>\n

For a rider who thrives on rhythm and routine, the forced pause came at exactly the wrong time. Yet, as Philipsen explained, what lifted him wasn\u2019t training or recovery programmes \u2014 it was company.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor three weeks after the crash I couldn\u2019t ride, then I started training again and went to Spain with Mathieu van der Poel<\/a>, Gianni Vermeersch<\/a> and the others,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had a great time there, just enjoying ourselves with no stress or pressure. That helped me get through it and find my motivation again. If I\u2019d been alone, it would\u2019ve been much harder to recover.\u201d<\/p>\n

That reconnection paid off. By late summer, Philipsen had rediscovered both his form and his fire, taking three stage wins at the Vuelta to close a season he admits was \u201cturbulent\u201d yet still rewarding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t my most successful year in terms of the number of wins,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I\u2019m proud that I wore both the yellow jersey at the Tour and the red jersey at the Vuelta in the same season. That\u2019s something special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freedom, responsibility and emotion<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old also reflected on how Alpecin\u2013Deceuninck\u2019s culture of autonomy has helped him mature as an athlete. \u201cWe\u2019re quite free to decide how we train, which is nice because it gives you mental space and allows time with family,\u201d Philipsen explained. \u201cBut it also means taking responsibility \u2014 it\u2019s up to you to prepare properly and build the right condition for the Classics.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than anything, Philipsen said the season reminded him that cycling is about emotion as much as performance. \u201cCycling is a sport of emotions \u2014 all sport is,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s passion and emotion that keep you going. Without that, you won\u2019t reach your goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having come through the hardest spell of his professional career, Philipsen looks ahead to 2026 with renewed motivation \u2014 and the same adrenaline-chasing energy that has defined his rise. \u201cWhen I stop racing, I\u2019ll definitely look for something that gives me the same adrenaline,\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cI\u2019ll need it.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been a year of highs and hard knocks for Jasper Philipsen. The Belgian sprinter, who began 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-250352","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}