No conclusions after Jasper Philipsen misses sprint chances in Algarve: "Went as it had to"

Jasper Philipsen had two chances to sprint for victory in the Volta ao Algarve, but just as often, this did not result in a top finish for the fast man from Alpecin-Premier Tech. According to his team, there is a logical explanation for this.

"The sprints definitely did not underperform," team director Frederik Willems told our website. "We were hoping for a stage win, which you always aim for when starting with one of the team leaders. Two small details went wrong during the sprints that caused the outcome not to be as it should. But these are details that could have played out very differently in this peloton. Considering the circumstances, we are generally satisfied with how the week went," he said.

What were those details? "In the first sprint, it was Kaden Groves’ job to deliver Jasper as close to the finish line as possible. He did well, but didn’t notice that Jasper was no longer on his wheel. Arnaud De Lie had slipped into the train, which is unfortunate but fair play. If Jasper had been on Kaden’s wheel, he would have won the first stage straight away."

Philipsen finished fourth there, while in the final stage he ended up tenth. "Again, a rider joined the train at a very crucial moment. Still, we could have recovered. Jasper had to make an extra early effort to be able to sprint if possible, but his legs just weren’t there anymore. Which is understandable at this point in the season."

Willems does not want to link major consequences from Algarve to the Opening Weekend. "This is a preparation race; this week went as it should. The weather was good, and the riders even did some extra training after the stages. Everything went as planned heading into next week," the team director said.

"As a team leader, you naturally want to be able to sprint – that didn’t happen twice. But we shouldn’t draw any firm conclusions. His condition is exactly where it should be," Willems concluded.