Philipsen wins Nokere Koerse wearing two different shoes: "Maybe it brings luck"

Jasper Philipsen is on the mark. The Alpecin-Premier Tech rider sprinted to his first victory of the season on Wednesday at Danilith Nokere Koerse. "I had to wait a bit, so this one is really important," he said in the flash interview afterwards.

"I’ve had some bad luck and didn’t really have the top feeling yet, but that will come. I’m happy I was able to take the first one today," Philipsen continued, who only really started his sprint with 150 meters to go. "Positioning was tough. I was with Jonas (Rickaert, ed.), but there was a crash on the right side, forcing us to brake hard. Then Gerben (Thijssen, ed.) was there too. He was able to bring me forward well. But it did cost energy."

Shoe change
Moreover, Philipsen had to make an extra effort in the finale. He had to catch back up to the peloton after changing his shoe. Why did he do that? "I almost crashed and had to rely fully on my clipless pedal to avoid falling. Unfortunately, this damaged my shoe, so I had to change it. It doesn’t really look like it," Philipsen pointed to his shoes: one white, the other silver. "But it was somewhat effective. Maybe this will bring me luck."

Still, the shoe change cost him energy. "I actually used up my best legs after having to come back following the shoe change and because of those hesitations in the sprint," said the Flame of Ham, who was also asked if his form is very good now. "Well. In previous years, I really loved racing here; I felt I could make the race hard, but today I just wanted to take the win and play it safer. That ultimately worked out well."