Jasper Philipsen's future: Three teams still in the running, one week until decision time

Milan-San Remo winner Jasper Philipsen will decide his future in the next week, with three teams still in the running the sign the Belgian rider. According to his agent Alex Carera, the three teams still in the hunt are his current squad, Alpecin-Deceuninck, as well as UAE Team Emirates and Bora-Hansgrohe.

Ahead of last week’s Paris-Roubaix, where Philipsen finished second for the second straight year, GCN heard that the 26-year-old was destined to sign a new deal at Alpecin but Carera insisted that there were still topics to discuss before his rider committed to a team.

According to the agent, residency and therefore the nature of the employment contract still needed to be finalised, with Philipsen currently based in Belgium.

“I was on a call with Jasper 10 minutes ago. We have the proposals and there are only three teams now, Alpecin, UAE and Bora. The other options are out,” Carera told GCN on Thursday.

“I’ve asked the teams for one more week because there is one more key issue for the future of Jasper.”

The inclusion of Bora-Hansgrohe is surprising given that team boss Ralph Denk told GCN earlier this week that Philipsen was ‘too expensive’. Carera admitted that Bora was slightly behind the other teams but that interest from the German squad remained.

“Only the good riders are expensive. In my experience, the riders are only expensive if you pay them a good contract and they don’t have results. But if they pay a lot of money and they provide a lot of results then it’s not expensive,” Carera said.

“If he [Denk] wants to take cheaper riders then maybe there’s not as much quality. How many riders are in the top 10 in the world and not expensive? Jasper is number four now.”

When asked if it was true that Alpecin was the most likely place for Philipsen, Carera added: “That’s false because you know that there are options.

“For sure, in one week the plan is totally clear. Until now nothing has been signed with any team, we’ve not taken a decision and he still needs to talk with his partner Melanie and his parents. After that, he’ll come back to me and then I’ll talk to the three teams: Alpecin, UAE and a little bit less it’s Bora.

“It’s true what Denk said to you that Jasper is expensive but maybe after Roubaix, he can see that there are not many riders in the world like Jasper. He’s the best sprinter in the world and he was first and second in two Monuments and he only rode two of them this year.”

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