Opening Weekend build-up: exclusive interviews with Jasper Philipsen and Tom Steels 🇧🇪
Taking on Pogačar, building form and Spring Classics goals for Alpecin and Soudal
Hi Subscribers,
We’re beginning our build-up to Opening Weekend with two exclusive interviews featuring Jasper Philipsen from Alpecin-Premier Tech and Tom Steels at Soudal Quick-Step.
Philipsen discusses pressure, form, and his leadership alongside Mathieu van der Poel heading into the Classics, while Steels provides details on where the current Soudal Quick-Step team stands compared to previous squads. We talk about the changing nature of the Spring Classics, whether having numbers actually matters, and how to compete against Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar.
Tomorrow we’ll have a complete Opening Weekend preview and interviews with Stefan Küng, Toms Skujiņš and Kasper Asgreen. Later in the week, I’m also talking to Imogen Wolff and Kasia Niewiadoma Phinney.
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Opening Weekend build-up with Jasper Philipsen and Toms Steels
Much was made of Jasper Philipsen’s inability to win a stage at the Volta ao Algarve last week, with the Belgian sprinter and his leadout struggling to put their off-season training efforts to good use, but the Alpecin-Premier Tech rider certainly wasn’t feeling any mounting pressure ahead of Opening Weekend, when his season really starts.
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“The feeling in general has been good, actually. I did a long training camp with the team to prepare for the Classics coming up. With the sprints here, we tried to line things up with the team, but we just missed some momentum and some explosiveness from my side. There’s no nice result that we were aiming for, but we also have bigger goals in mind,” Philipsen told me ahead of the final stage in Portugal.
Philipsen has reason to be confident ahead of appointments at Omloop Nieuwsblad and Kuurne - Brussel - Kuurne this weekend, and it’s worth remembering that he didn’t win at his first race in 2025 - the UAE Tour - before going on to finish third in Nieuwsblad and win in Kuurne. Sure, a victory in the sun at Algarve would have been excellent for confidence, but when you’re a Monument winner, you know when it truly matters to perform.