Jasper Philipsen still searching for first victory: "But nothing is wrong"

It’s already March, but Jasper Philipsen is still waiting for his first win of 2026. The Belgian has already achieved a few top finishes this season, but so far the puzzle pieces haven’t quite come together. However, this is not a cause for concern within the top sprinter’s camp.

Philipsen was usually celebrating relatively early in previous seasons, but this time that first victory (for now) remains elusive. His father Patrick, however, sees an explanation. "Jasper is quite calm and so is his environment. Because there’s nothing wrong. This year, the key moments simply come later. The spring classics at the end of March, beginning of April: that’s when it has to happen,” emphasizes Philipsen senior in an interview with Het Nieuwsblad.

“He hasn’t focused specifically on sprint work”
“Jasper has been working carefully towards that. He hasn’t focused specifically on sprint training. That’s for May and June. No, he feels good. Ready for what’s to come. You could see that as well in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, when he tested his explosiveness uphill in the hilly section.”

On top of that, Philipsen wasn’t originally scheduled for Tirreno-Adriatico. “On Friday evening, at the altitude hotel in Denia, Spain, Jasper was asked if he could replace the injured Kaden Groves. As a result, next week he will have to fly back and forth between Italy and Belgium for Nokere Koerse.”

Yesterday, Philipsen made a bid for the stage win in Tirreno-Adriatico but had to concede in the sprint to the faster Tobias Lund Andresen. “You could see that everyone had already left their best legs behind. The bad weather really took its toll. I didn’t have a top sprint left in my legs. I couldn’t generate much wattage anymore,” he said afterward on VTM.