Rest after the Vuelta? No way! Alpecin-Deceuninck unveils Jasper Philipsen’s fall race schedule

2025 started well for Philipsen. He came close to victory twice in the UAE Tour, finished third in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and won Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne the following day. Together with Mathieu van der Poel, they were expected to be a deadly duo in the spring classics.

However, the spring did not go quite as hoped. In Milan-San Remo, the Monument he won a year earlier, the Belgian did not feature. He finished 163rd in the day's results. DNFs followed this in Dwars door Vlaanderen and Eschborn-Frankfurt.

Before his withdrawal from the German one-day race, he did manage a second place in the Scheldeprijs and eleventh place in Paris-Roubaix, where his teammate Mathieu van der Poel won. Philipsen then won the Baloise Belgium Tour, after which all eyes turned to the Tour.

It started fantastically, as he won the opening stage in Lille and took the yellow jersey. The Belgian was not able to enjoy it for long, as he lost the yellow jersey on day two. On day three, things went completely wrong: Philipsen crashed hard in an intermediate sprint, bringing his Tour to an abrupt and premature end.

The injuries were severe, but just over a month later, the Belgian was back at the start of the Tour of Denmark. On day two, he sprinted to fourth place, but the primary focus was on how his legs would hold up for the Vuelta a España. Before the Tour of Spain, Philipsen only rode the Hamburg Cyclassics, where he finished fourth.

The Vuelta started in the same way as the Tour. The Belgian sprinted to victory on day one and took the red jersey. Again, he lost it on day two, but fortunately, he was spared a crash on day three. Another victory followed on day eight, and on day nineteen, he completed the hat trick.

A final chance on day 21 was taken away from him. Due to ongoing protests, which had been affecting the Vuelta for three weeks, the final stage in Madrid was ultimately not held. Philipsen was highly disappointed, mainly because his father and several friends had flown to the Spanish capital to cheer him on.

It remained to be seen what fall program Jasper Disaster would ride after such a busy cycling year. His team, Alpecin-Deceuninck, announced on Friday via X that the Belgian will be back in action on Saturday. Philipsen will then compete in the Super 8 Classic, where we will see Wout van Aert end his season.

For the Belgian from Alpecin-Deceuninck, that is not the end of the year. Philipsen will ride the Sparkassen Münsterland Giro on October 3, Binche-Chimay-Binche in his own country on October 7, and the sprinter will end his 2025 season in France on October 12 with Paris-Tours.