Philipsen and Jakobsen set for racing returns at Tour of Denmark

Jasper Philipsen’s month of July started with perfection when the Belgian sprinter won the opening stage of the Tour de France, his tenth victory at the race, navigating the cross-wind chaos to gain the yellow jersey for the first time in his career. 

The victory would have been made even sweeter by the fact that the Belgian had been on a 109-day winning drought, which he had only ended a few weeks earlier at the Baloise Tour of Belgium.

The Alpecin-Deceuninck light continued to shine the following day, when Philipsen’s teammate Mathieu van der Poel stormed to victory on the uphill drag to Boulogne-sur-Mer to keep the yellow jersey within the team.

With Philipsen up-and-running early in the race, the Belgian had already found himself in the lead of the points classification, and was looking to add to his buffer at the intermediate sprint Isbergues on stage 3, when disaster struck, as the Belgian rider was involved in a racing incident with Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) which saw him it the ground hard, and have to abandon the race.

Philipsen immediately underwent successful surgery in Herentals on the night of his crash for his collarbone and acromioclavicular (AC) joint, and the Belgian has since been on the road to recovery.

With the anticipation of his return to racing, the PostNord Danmark Rundt, the Tour of Denmark, announced the provisional inclusion of Philipsen on the startlist for the five-day stage race, which kicks off on August 12 in Bornholm, though the Belgian’s potential participation is yet to be confirmed by Alpecin-Deceuninck.

The statement read, “When Denmark's biggest stage race rolls out from Nexø to Silkeborg on August 12-16, one of the biggest sprinter names will be on the starting list. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who crashed out of the Tour de France, is on the provisional starting list for the PostNord Danmark Rundt.”

Also mentioned in the statement was his previous and only other appearance at the race, which came back in 2022, where he was victorious on stage 4 to Skive.

The official statement from the race website also noted home riders Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Albert Withen Philipsen (Lidl-Trek), and Jakob Fuglsang (Israel-Premier Tech) as other names on the provisional startlist.

Since his exceptional Giro d’Italia in May, where he claimed four stages, the points classification and had a stint in pink, Pedersen has only raced three times, all on home roads, in the inaugural Copenhagen Sprint and then the road and time trial national championships. Pedersen is also a two-time winner of the Tour of Denmark, having been successful in 2017 and 2023.

Pedersen’s teammate and young compatriot, Philipsen, who is one of the most talented prospects in the sport, is yet to make an appearance at the Tour of Denmark, unsurprisingly, considering the Dane is still only 18 years old and in his first season at WorldTour level. 

Meanwhile, Fuglsang is set to race the Tour of Denmark for the tenth and final time in his career after a decade hiatus, with the 40-year-old and two-time monument winner having already announced his retirement for the end of 2025. Fuglsang is currently the record holder for most victories at the Tour of Denmark with 3, whilst Pedersen sits on two and could join the veteran in a few weeks' time. 

One name who wasn’t mentioned in the race website statement but is also anticipated to make his long-awaited return to racing is Fabio Jakobsen. 

Picnic PostNL announced via social media that the 28-year-old Dutch sprinter will appear in Denmark, having not pinned a race number on since the end of March at the Classic Brugge-De-Panne, the third consecutive race day where Jakobsen had to abandon.

In a press release from the team on March 31, it was revealed that Jakobsen would halt cycling for the foreseeable future after tests revealed that he had flow limitation in the iliac artery in both of his legs.

In the statement, Jakobsen stated, “It’s mentally of course a setback, but now that we have found the cause of the issue, I am hopeful that the surgery can then solve it. Sometimes you need to take one step back to be able to make two forward, and I hope that’s what I’m going to do now.”

However, following successful surgery and a lengthy rehabilitation process, Jakobsen is set to return to the peloton in Denmark at a race that he will have good memories of, where he won two stages in his only previous appearance in 2023. Since those two victories, Jakobsen has won once since, the opening stage of the Tour of Turkey in 2024. 

The hope will be that the identification of the flow limitation in the iliac artery in both of his legs, combined with the successful surgery and rehabilitation, will enable the 28-year-old to rediscover the form that has seen him win six grand tour stages and become European champion. 

Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) was the 2024 winner of the Tour of Denmark, but the Belgian isn't set to appear on the start line in Nexø on August 12, which features some hilly stages, a flat stage and an individual time trial.