Jasper Philipsen changes Tour de France preparation plans — again

Jasper Philipsen has once again made the Tour de France his primary target. The Belgian, a former green jersey winner, is hoping to shine again at La Grande Boucle. Alpecin-Premier Tech announced his summer programme recently — but have now made a change.

Philipsen had a mixed spring. The former Milan-San Remo winner could not quite reproduce that level in this year's opening Monument, though he had won Nokere Koerse three days earlier. He also took victory at In Flanders Fields, though he then skipped the Tour of Flanders. At Paris-Roubaix, he had to concede to Mathieu van der Poel before withdrawing from the race altogether.

Ups and downs, without question. The Tour de France is now the next major target for the sprinter. Across four editions he has won nine stages, and in 2023 he took the green points jersey home to Belgium. Last year he delivered a stunning win on the opening stage to Lille — it earned him the yellow jersey — but he crashed hard on stage 3 and had to abandon.

Philipsen will return to the Tour with more motivation than ever to make his mark. Last week, Alpecin-Premier Tech announced his pre-Tour programme: the Copenhagen Sprint on 14 June, followed by the Tour de Suisse and the Belgian National Championships — leaving him one week to recover before the Barcelona start.

But now he and his team have opted for a different approach. The Tour de Suisse has been dropped from his schedule, as confirmed on Instagram. Instead of the WorldTour stage race, Philipsen will stay in Belgium for the Baloise Belgium Tour, which starts on the same day — 17 June.

The reasoning is sound: the Tour de Suisse has few genuine sprint opportunities this year, while the five-stage Belgian race suits Philipsen well. He won the Scherpenheuvel stage in both 2023 and 2024. In doing so, he effectively mirrors his 2025 build-up: that year he won a stage at the Belgium Tour and finished third at the national championships.

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs - [email protected]