Jasper Philipsen explains why he finished Nokere Koerse with two different shoes

Philipsen and the rest of the peloton looked set to come up short against breakaway rider Alec Segaert, who started the final kilometre with a lead of 25 seconds for Bahrain Victorious. But on the race’s uphill finishing stretch, the sprinters — with Philipsen leading the charge — still managed to reel him in.

“This is very important for my confidence,” Philipsen said afterwards. “I had to wait a little while for it, my first win of the season. I’ve had a bit of bad luck and I didn’t always have my best feeling, but I trusted that it would come. I’m happy that I could finally take that victory.”

Even in Nokere, it did not come easily. “It was difficult to hold position,” Philipsen explained. “I was there with Jonas Geens, but because of a manoeuvre we had to brake. Then Gerben Thijssen brought me back to the front, but I had already used up my best legs earlier in the race when I had to chase back on.”

Philipsen did indeed finish the race wearing two different shoes, although it was not immediately clear what had happened. He later explained it himself. “I almost crashed earlier in the race, and I had to unclip to avoid going down. My shoe was damaged, so I had to change it.”

“It doesn’t look great, but it works,” he laughed. “Maybe it brings me luck. In the sprint I also had to hesitate a few times, but I’m happy that we still managed to make it.”

Philipsen can now travel to Pavia full of confidence, where Milan-Sanremo starts on Saturday. “I think in previous years I would have liked to race more freely here, but this time it was more about trying to take the win and staying safe. I’m happy it worked out well, because winning is always important.”