Philipsen sets his sights on spring classics: "I will always be a sprinter, but it's not the main focus"

Alpecin-Deceuninck dominated three of the five Monuments this year. Mathieu van der Poel claimed victories in both Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, while Jasper Philipsen narrowly beat Michael Matthews in the sprint at Milan-San Remo. It should come as no surprise, then, that the Belgian team will be the ultimate favorite for the spring classics in 2025. Philipsen sees this happening as well but is confident that his team can handle the pressure.

The 26-year-old Belgian is an exceptional sprinter but also possesses many other qualities. His two second-place finishes in Paris-Roubaix are the ultimate examples of this. During Alpecin-Deceuninck's training camp, Philipsen told Cycling Weekly that the spring classics will be more of a focus than ever in 2025.

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Philipsen on the podium during the Tour de France

Philipsen remains a sprinter, but it’s not his main focus in 2025

"During the season we’re looking more towards the Classics races for me now and also training for these specific races regularly," says the nine-time Tour stage winner. "Going to the Tour de France I’ll then look to try and improve more in the sprints and focus on that but I think what we did last year went quite well so we will try to do more or less the same for me and try to have a successful spring campaign."

"I’ll always be a sprinter and the sprints will be my strength, but it’s not going to be the main focus for the first part of the year for me. We’re still figuring out the details of my program but there will be no Tour Down Under or anything like that," Philipsen added.

"It's really hard to specifically target one race"

Philipsen is — unsurprisingly—very satisfied with his 2024 season. "I was really happy with how it all went. To do what we did at Paris-Roubaix for two years in a row was really quite special. Next year all eyes will be on us but we will be ready."

A trilogy in Roubaix is certainly one of Philipsen’s dreams, but he would prefer to secure his own victory. "It’s really hard to specifically target one race," he tempers expectations. "It means you need to be really 100% perfect and there’s many circumstances that can get in the way."

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Philipsen during Paris-Roubaix

Dénia increasingly popular among cycling teams and riders 

The top sprinter has also noticed another interesting trend: Dénia is becoming increasingly popular among cycling teams, as well as amateur cyclists and cycling enthusiasts. On the Costa Blanca, the conditions are excellent. "It’s a bit of an evolution coming here. I think one team started it, then others followed and eventually the whole bunch was here. Every year you see more and more people coming down here and you see more and more amateurs and younger riders too. Some of the guys stay here for months now in order to prepare for the new season."

This isn’t surprising, given that the weather further north in Europe is far from cycling-friendly. "In Belgium it’s always raining so I usually just go on Zwift. If it’s a shorter ride and I don’t want to go out on the road then I use it then as well. I don’t really like to train just on rollers so this helps make it more interactive and just more fun. It’s a cool alternative to have," concludes Philipsen.