Cycling: Jasper Philipsen wins his first Milan-Sanremo sprint

Jasper Philipsen (à droite) a devancé Michael Matthews et Tadej Pogacar. LaPresse

Le coureur d'Alpecin s'est montré le plus rapide au sein d'un groupe d'une dizaine de coureurs pour remporter la Primavera, samedi 16 mars.

The Belgian Jasper Philipsen became on Saturday the first sprinter in eight years to win Milan-Sanremo under the noses of Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar who consoled himself with a first podium in the Primavera. In a small group sprint, the Alpecin runner beat the Australian Michael Matthews and Pogacar to succeed his teammate Van der Poel, 10th this year, on the list of one of the five of the most prestigious classics on the calendar.

🔥🤩 On attendait Pogacar et van der Poel, on a eu Philipsen !

Le Belge crée la surprise sur la Via Roma et coiffe Matthews sur le fil

Pogacar monte sur le podium#LesRP #MilanSanRemo pic.twitter.com/LauupRj3sF

— Eurosport France (@Eurosport_FR) March 16, 2024

This is the first victory in a Monument for the Belgian who flew over the flat stages in the last Tour de France. Since Arnaud Démare in 2016, no pure sprinter has imposed himself in the Primavera dominated by punching attackers in recent years.

But Philipsen is not only the best sprinter in the world for two years, he is also one of the only ones in his caste to follow as well in the moguls, as it was the case in the Poggio on Saturday. Pogacar attacked twice on this legendary springboard, the summit of which is located 5.5 km from the goal.

Alaphilipe 9th on the line

But the Slovenian was unable to beat the other favorites, like Van der Poel, Mads Pedersen or Julian Alaphilippe, finishing 9th on the line. Philipsen also managed to hang on and it was quite logical that he raised his arms via Roma to sign the 23rd Belgian victory in the Primavera.