Jasper Philipsen, the fastest man in the world

Adam Becket takes a look at the Belgian who'd won three stages by stage nine of the Tour de France

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For someone who has looked dominant at the 2023 Tour de France, taking three stages, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Deceuninck) is incredibly self-effacing, refusing to take praise himself, instead passing it on to his team-mates.

This is his fourth Tour, the third he has raced consecutively, but it is only in the last 12 months that the Belgian has gone from promising fastman to the best sprinter in the world. Between stage 15 of the 2022 race and stage seven of the 2023 edition, Philipsen won every Tour bunch sprint that he contested.

However, there still does not seem to be an ego. After he won his first stage of this year’s race, stage three to Bayonne, he heaped praise onto Mathieu van der Poel, his final lead-out man: “When you see the other lead-out trains not passing us, you know it’s going fast. It’s not easy to stay on Mathieu’s wheel.”

A day later, in Nogaro, he was similarly effusive post-victory: “We were able to arrive at the front and sprint for victory, that’s only possible with a strong team behind you. It's a privilege to have Mathieu [van der Poel] as a last man, I don't think a lot of other guys can say that."