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Jasper Philipsen has not yet signed with Alpecin-Deceuninck, but according to his manager Alex Carera, our compatriot will decide on his future in consultation with his girlfriend and parents in the coming week. “We are still talking to three parties: Alpecin, Team UAE and Bora-hansgrohe,” Carera told GCN. But despite the arrival of Red Bull, Bora’s bid is lagging behind.

Remaining teammate of Mathieu van der Poel or becoming teammate again of best friend Tadej Pogacar: that seems to be the decision that Jasper Philipsen will make next week.

Philipsen has reached the end of his contract with Alpecin-Deceuninck and has not yet signed a new contract, but according to his manager Alex Carrera he will make the decision next week. De Vlam van Ham will not start in the Amstel Gold Race and will therefore be able to make good use of the freed up time.

Global Cycling Network angling for Philipsen from two sources last week: first from Ralph Denk, the team manager of Bora-hansgrohe, and then from Philipsen’s manager Alex Carera.

“Too expensive” for Bora

Ralph Denk called Philipsen “too expensive” in a conversation with GCN journalist Daniel Benson. Bora-hansgrohe will receive a lot of money from Red Bull, but wants to use it to “find new superstars, rather than buying current superstars.” Incidentally, the Remco Evenepoel file is no longer on the table of the German team.

According to Alex Carera, Philipsen’s agent, Bora-hansgrohe is still interested, although he admits that they are offering less than Alpecin-Deceuninck and Team UAE Emirates.

“I was on the phone with Jasper 10 minutes ago,” Carera said Thursday when GCN contacted him. “We have all the proposals and there are still three teams in the running: Alpecin, UAE and Bora. We have ruled out the other options.”

“I have asked the teams for another week to think about it because there is still one important question for Jasper’s future.”

Talking to girlfriend and parents

GCN found it surprising that Carera still mentioned Bora-hansgrohe among the options, while Denk thought Philipsen was “too expensive”. The Italian manager then admitted that the German team’s offer is “slightly behind” the others.

“If he (Think, talk.) in the segment of cheaper riders, he will get less quality. There are no cheap riders in the top ten of the UCI rankings. Jasper is currently number four. In my opinion, a rider is only expensive if he has a good contract and is not performing. Maybe after Jasper’s second place in Paris-Roubaix, Denk will realize that there are few riders like him.”

Rumor has it that Philipsen has already decided to stay with Alpecin-Deceuninck. “That is not true, there are indeed other options.”

“In a week, Jasper’s future plan will be completely clear. At this point, he hasn’t signed anywhere. We haven’t made a decision yet. Jasper still has to talk to his partner Melanie and his parents. He will then get back to me and I will talk to three teams again: Alpecin, UAE and to a slightly lesser extent Bora.”