Belgian Jasper Philipsen Wins Bruges-La Panne Race for Second Consecutive Year

The Belgian Jasper Philipsen won the Bruges-La Panne race in a sprint for the second year in a row on Wednesday in his country, three days after winning Milan-San Remo. The rider from the Alpecin-Deceuninck team beat his Belgian rival Tim Merlier (Soudal – Quick Step) and the Dutchman Danny Van Poppel (Bora-Hansgrohe) in this race which kicked off the Flandrian classics.

Before the start of the race, Philipsen (26 years old) had clearly identified the danger posed by Merlier (31 years old), calling him “one of the fastest at the moment”. “He’s one of those we’ll have to watch the most, and it’s going to be hard to beat him,” he added in a prophetic statement. It was between these two that victory was fought out, by the strength of their calves but also their elbows. Philipsen managed to narrowly pass between Merlier, who was locking him in, and a barrier, causing the latter to get angry after the line.

It was written that the last pedal strokes of this 198.9 km long race would be nervous as the weather was ideal for once in Flanders, sunny and above all windless. The French sprinter from Arkea-Samsic Arnaud Démarre also promised “a lot of energy in the final for all the runners, therefore (a sprint) very, very nervous”.

It was thirty kilometers from the finish line that the teams accelerated a lot to try to place their sprinter, until they caught up, ten kilometers from the goal, with the Frenchman Thomas Gachignart (TotalÉnergies), last runner of a breakaway which for a long time counted three. In the placement game, Philipsen managed to emerge at the last moment while he was in a very bad position, winning this race which marks the start of the “holy fortnight” of cycling in Flanders.

2024-03-20 07:00:00
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