Jasper Philipsen sees no room for romanticism in the Tour de France: "Everyone wants to see Mark Cavendish win a 35th stage... We will do our best to beat him"

While the fight for the Yellow Jersey at the 2024 Tour de France is shaping up to be one of the most exciting in a long time, the battle for sprint victories also has plenty of intriguing storylines to follow.

Last year, Jasper Philipsen proved himself to be the best sprinter in the world, winning four stages and a resounding victory in the green jersey points classification. Faced with the Belgian sprint phenomenon this year, the public’s favorite, Mark Cavendish, will have one last chance to win a 35th stage, a record, for his last Tour de France.

“Everyone wants to see Mark win a 35th stage. I’ve always been a big fan of Mark Cavendish and it would be a historic moment if he could achieve it,” admits Philipsen in quotes collected by Cycling Weekly ahead of the Grand Departure of the Tour de France 2024 in Florence, next Saturday. “He will be good and there (in contention) for sure.”

Nevertheless, Philipsen sees no room for romance in the 2024 Tour de France. The Belgian is icy and ruthless on the bike and sprinter Alpecin-Deceuninck makes no secret of the fact that he is traveling to France (via Italy) to win, and win as much as possible. “It’s not that I’m going to offer a sprint,” he explains. “We will try to do our best and beat him.”

As mentioned, Philipsen was dominant twelve months ago, the world’s best sprinter without equal. This time around, he is not in such electric form. “Because the other guys are great and not slow. We also focused a lot on the classics – we had success in Milan-San Remo – and we didn’t focus much on the sprint,” he says undeterred. “I expect to sprint faster in the Tour de France, which should be the obvious goal. But of course, other guys expect the same thing.”