Albert Philipsen is one of the youngest riders in this year's Tour Down Under at just 18 and makes his WorldTour debut with Lidl-Trek in Australia. Yet his junior world titles on the road and in mountain biking have earned him the status of 'super talent'.
He is one of the riders to watch in the years ahead, alongside Paul Seixas, Léo Bisiaux (Decathlon-AG2R) and Pablo Torres (UAE Team Emirates) and could even make his mark on the sport at the Tour Down Under.
Philipsen's love of road racing, mountain biking and Grand Tour potential means he will follow in the footsteps of Remco Evenepoel, Tadej Pogačar, Quinn Simmons, Tom Pidcock, and Mathieu van der Poel.
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He accepts the 'super talent' tag, taking it as a badge of honour but is already his own man.
"To be honest, I don't really like to compare myself with other riders, I would just like to be Albert Phillipsen and see where my career takes me," he told Cyclingnews and other media from Tour Down Under.
"I would hope I'm a super talent but it's definitely hard to say at the moment. You can be good in juniors, but it's a different game on the WorldTour level. I still think I have a lot to develop.
"It's a bit crazy for me to have to move from junior to WorldTour and to race against all the guys that I've been watching on TV, and looking up to for so many years."
Philipsen's first taste of elite racing came in Saturday evening's criterium. It was a shakeout race, especially for riders like Philipsen, who had travelled from the colds of the European winter. Yet he went on the attack, in a show of character.
"I just wanted to have a good time. It was a really nice race to start with because there was no pressure. It was just about having fun and getting the body going," he explained.
"I'm really excited to get going. It's been a long winter, or actually, not so long, but it felt like it's been a long winter of preparation, and I just feel ready to go and ready to see what will happen."
Philipsen is part of a mixed Lidl-Trek team at the Tour Down Under, alongside veteran Bauke Mollema, possible GC rider Juan Pedro Lopez and Andrea Bagioli, plus fellow WorldTour debutant Tim Torn Teutenberg.
He has apparently impressed during training rides on Willunga Hill and could use his power and youth to take on the bigger name rivals. He appears quietly confident but modest.
"I would like to go out and show what I can do. But if it doesn't happen at this race, I think it's okay," he said.
"It's hard for me to set goals for this first race because everything is so new. So the biggest goal is just to gain some experience and get the season going. I don't really have any results in mind, because I don't know that much about racing on the WorldTour. It's a big change from the juniors."
Philipsen has turned professional as a teenager but Lild-Trek will help him develop via a carefully selected race programme and spells racing with the Lidl-Trek development team.
"I still haven't completely figured out which kind of rider I would like to be in the future. I would like to try some different things this year and see what I'm good at and what I'm bad at, and see where I feel like I'm at home, or where I feel like I'm doing the best," Philipsen explained.
Philipsen is the 2023 and 2024 junior mountain bike cross-country world champion and intends to include off-road racing in his 2025 season as he finds his feet.
"I'm going to switch between riding on the Lidl-Trek devo team for some races and then the WorldTour for most races, plus some mountain biking," he said, still unsure of his exact calendar.
"When I'm racing with the WorldTour team, it's going to be about gaining experience and then when I'm racing with the devo team, it's going to be about still having the feeling of how to ride finals and win races."
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