THE NEW HULK IN TOWN

Jasper Philipsen on being the 'fastest man in the world', doing the green jersey double at the Tour de France and going one better at Roubaix

- Tom Thewlis

It seemed fitting that Jasper Philipsen eventually swapped his blue team issue kit for the green jersey of the Tour de France last summer once his Hulk-like sprinting won him the unofficial title of the fastest man in the world.

A familiar pattern gradually emerged during the Tour's sprint stages this year, first seen on stage three. Alpecin led the peloton into the final kilometre before Philipsen burst from Mathieu van der Poel's wheel to win the sprint.

With the 2010s Hulk, Peter Sagan, having reverted to something close to Bruce Banner, it was Philipsen who stepped forward to pick up the mantle of cycling's most incredible strongman.

Philipsen chalked up 19 individual victories last season. The 25-year-old was simply a cut above the rest and says he is aiming to replicate his form this year with the Paris Olympics on the horizon.

Speaking exclusively to Cycling Weekly, Philipsen says lining up at the Olympics isn't the be all and end all, which is just as well because given.

Belgium's star-studded road race squad, he might not even make the start line.

"I hope to be there, of course," he says.

"It's still a really long time away but I hope to be able to get to Paris and compete." "There are an awful lot of good riders available," he adds. “I just need to deliver results and show that I'm one of the strongest on the type of terrain that they have for the road race in Paris."

 

Quietly quick

The caricature of top sprinters is that they're loud, brash and shouting from the rooftops about their own brilliance.

However, five minutes with the unassuming Philipsen reveals that he is the complete opposite.