No Tour of Flanders for Philipsen as Alpecin-Premier Tech’s classics planning pays off

At Alpecin-Premier Tech, the decision had already been made prior to the race to avoid a repeat of the situation from two years ago. Back then, Van der Poel didn’t feel great as he rode alongside Mads Pedersen all the way to Wevelgem, only to be beaten by him in the sprint.

Since Van der Poel’s legs were still feeling the fatigue from the E3 on Sunday, the Dutchman decided to bet on Philipsen this time. The two communicated with each other via the earpiece: Van der Poel said he wasn’t feeling his best, while Philipsen felt he still had some energy left.

“It was a good situation, and for me it was fine either way, because of course I had Mathieu up front. Whatever happened, I knew I had to be ready for a potential sprint,” said the eventual winner, who was brought back to the front by Decathlon and Red Bull.

“You can plan all sorts of things, but in the end, you’re still largely dependent on how the race unfolds. There were still a lot of sprinters and their teams, so there’s always going to be some sort of chase,” Philipsen noted.

The Belgian chose a different approach to the classic Gent-Wevelgem than in previous years. “It’s always been a race that should have suited me, but I also know that I didn’t always have the best legs because I used up a lot of my energy during the race. This time I was calmer and conserved my energy. With Mathieu on the team, you have that option too.”

“Of course, it was no surprise that Mathieu was up front,” Philipsen continued. “But it also depends on how the others are feeling. Mathieu wasn’t feeling great after Friday, but he was still up front, so it wasn’t that bad after all.”

After Van der Poel, Van Aert, and Vermeersch were reeled in, Philipsen tackled the final kilometer with two new faces on the Alpecin-Premier Tech team. ‘It wasn’t easy to go into the final with Jonas Geens and Florian Sénéchal, both of whom are new to our team. It was a gamble, but you also have to give those guys the confidence that they can do it 100 percent.’

“I know they have the strength, but everything still has to fall into place. And they did exactly what was expected of them, which makes winning all the sweeter,” said Philipsen, who was very pleased with the work of the two.

‘It takes time for the new guys to fully settle into the team. It’s the little things: how you work as a team, communication, or simply moving through the peloton. You come into a new environment and you always have to adapt, but they’re doing that very well.’

Next up for Philipsen is Dwars door Vlaanderen, but he won’t normally be there on Sunday for the Tour of Flanders. He’s prioritizing the Scheldeprijs and Paris-Roubaix, which take place one day later. “The Tour of Flanders is a very tough race, and I only see two or three riders who can win it. Paris-Roubaix is a race where anything can happen, and we’ll see if I can contend for the win there.”

Philipsen’s decision not to ride the Tour of Flanders is one that aligns with the strategic choices Alpecin-Premier Tech makes in the spring. “We have a very good team for this kind of work, and that’s what we’re working on. We try to line up a balanced team at the start of every race,” sports director Christoph Roodhooft told us.

Whereas many other teams consistently field the same riders, they chose, for example, to rest Edward Planckaert and Tibor Del Grosso—who were riding so strongly in the E3—for Dwars door Vlaanderen and replace them with... that’s right, Sénéchal and Geens. With success.