Former Tour de France green jersey winner Jasper Philipsen has said that he sees "seven or eight" chances for sprints in the 2025 Tour following its route unveiling on Tuesday.
The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider has taken nine sprint stage wins in the last three editions of the Tour and will once again be a points classification contender next summer. He'll also have the rare opportunity to go for the yellow jersey on the opening day in Lille.
Speaking at the presentation in Paris, Philipsen called the first stage, a largely flat 185km run which begins and ends in the northern city, a "big goal" for him.
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"This can be a Tour de France that offers perspective for our team. I am already thinking about the start in Lille. A chance to grab both the stage and the yellow jersey. A unique opportunity and immediately a big goal, I think.
"The rest of the Tour also looks good for me as a sprinter with maybe seven or eight sprint opportunities in total. These stages are not always the flattest, but that's not bad for us. I'll have to look at everything in more detail, but for now, I'm happy with it."
Philipsen took nine wins in 2024, with three Tour stages coming alongside Milan-San Remo and the Classic Brugge-De Panne as his stand-out results as he finished the year as the top sprinter in the UCI rankings, behind only Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel.
He was present in Paris alongside reigning green jersey winner Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) and stage win record holder Mark Cavendish, who is set to retire this winter.
Philipsen told Het Nieuwsblad that "in general I'm happy" with the route, which has further flat stages in Dunkerque, Laval, Châteauroux, Toulouse, Valence and Paris.
"The real mountain stages, to La Plagne for example, seem really tough to me, but in general I'm happy," he said. "The Tour is normally on the programme for me, but at the moment everyone is still enjoying their vacation. So, we'll have to wait and see what the planning will look like exactly."
