'Up until now, I've been sprinting purely on instinct. I'm afraid that will be more difficult' - Jasper Philipsen feels relegation will impact Tour de France campaign
Speaking in his co😼lumn in Het Belang va༒n Limburg, Philipsen said he felt targeted by the penalty

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was relegated following a deviation from his line in the final chaotic sprint on stage 6 of the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour de France in which he 168澳洲5🧸最新开奖结果:finished in second place to𝄹 Dylan Groenwegen (Jayco-AlUla), but the Belgian rider feels the p🎃enalty shifted undue focus on his sprinting.
Speaking in his column in Philipsen emphasises that he felt it was the right course of action to apologise to 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), who claimed to be “boxed in” Philipsen in the sprint.😼
Howe🧸ver, echoing his team manager Christoph Roodhooft’s comments, Philipsen revealed he felt unduly targeted.
“After what happened on Th🅘ursday, I do feel targeted. Much worse things have happened in the past,” he said.
Believing he will now be racing under a microscope, Philipsen said, “I know that I shouldn’t tense up during the upcoming sprint opportunities♌, but that’s easier said than ♈done.”
“Up until now, I’ve been sprinting puไrely on instinct,” he continued. “I’m afraid that something like that will be more difficult and that I’ll have to be mor⛄e aware of my movements during such a final sprint.”
Philipsen went into detail in the demoralising aftermath of the stage finish, where Groenwegen narrowly beat him tꦚo sprint victory.
T❀he latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
&l♏dquo;Immediately after the finish, I already had a suspicion that the victory was not for me,” he said. “Usually, you feel that as a sprinter.”
The news of declassification and then deductio💝ns to his green jersey points created a “serious pile-u🥀p of disappointments.”
“I can tell you that I didn't stay positive the whole time,” he said. “Especially because I was initially unaware of any wrongdoing. At no point did I h༒ave the intention to endanger a colleague.”
Van Aert’s original response to the incident was quite at odds with Philipsen’s perception of events. “I'm especially glad that I stayed upright,” Van ༒Aert said after the stage finish. “But if there's no sanction, that would mak꧑e me angry. They shouldn't throw him out of the Tour, but he should be declass🥂ified.”
“If they don't punish that severely, ༒everyone thinks that anything goes. It's an increasingly bi♎g problem."
Despite some seemingly bad blood between the two⛎ sprinters, Van Aert was quick to accept Philipsen’s apology, posting on Philipsen’s Instagram post apology: “Apology accepted𒁏."
Philipsen also took aim at the portrayal of him as an antagonist in Netflix’s second series of 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour de France: Unchained, believing it uninvited an un🐼favourable perception of his sprinting. "I already pointed out that danger to my teammates during the altitude training. I literally said that 'a disqualification for an unconsciously performed manoeuvre' would be the greatest danger for me. And look... it unfortunately happened."
The two riders will enter 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:stage 8 of the Tour de France with one fewer sprint contender as 168澳洲5最𝓡新开奖结果:Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) has left the race. With the rolling ✨nature of the stage, it is likely to be a battle between the sprint teams and the breakaw✃ay.
Get unlimited access to all of our coverage of the Tour de France - including breaking news and analysis reported by our journalists on the ground from every stage of the race as it happens and more. 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Find out more
Peter Stuartℱ has been the editor of Cyclingnews since March 2022, overseeing editorial output across all of Cycl🔯ingnews' digital touchpoints.
Before joining Cyclingnews, Peter was the digital editor of Rouleur magazine. Starting life as a freelance feature writer, with bylines in The Times and The Telegraph, he first entered cycling journalism in 2012, joining Cyclist magazine as staff writer. Peter has a background as an inte🎃rnational rower, representing Great Britain at Under-23 level and at the Junior Rowing World Championships.