Jasper Philipsen kept his promise and today in Lille won the first stage of the Tour de France and donned the yellow jersey. Alpecin-Deceuninck had studied this stage in every minute detail and in the finale was almost completely at the front of the group, ready to contest the first sprint of the Grande Boucle.

"We were very nervous all day long. It was a fight to stay at the front throughout the stage – Philipsen said. Everyone in our team is at their best and worked to bring me to this victory, and I'm happy we managed to take it."

Winning at the Tour de France is never easy, and doing so on the first day is truly a difficult feat because everyone wants to be at the front. "It was an impressive team performance. At the moment the group split, we were all at the front. This success is entirely our merit. Mentally, it cost us a lot of energy because we remained focused all day long."

In the sprint, Jasper Philipsen was superb, demonstrating his superiority. "There were so many people along the route and especially in the final kilometers that I got goosebumps. It was a wonderful sensation. I would never have thought of wearing this yellow jersey one day, it's truly a dream. It's fantastic to be able to hang it somewhere in my home. It was a very important goal for us, but you never know if you can really achieve it, so it's fantastic to have started the Tour de France this way, and something like this lightens you up and pushes you to do more. The yellow jersey will have a nice spot in the living room, next to the green jersey from two years ago."

Philipsen and his teammates feel relieved, but the Tour de France has just begun and there will be other opportunities to win for both the Belgian sprinter and Mathieu van der Poel.

"Today we had a great opportunity and we showed that we know how to seize all the chances that come our way. I've already worn a Tour jersey, it was the green jersey two years ago and now having the yellow jersey is fantastic. I'll enjoy it with the team because we all deserve it. Mathieu won the jersey in 2021 and it's incredible for our team to repeat this success. Moreover, this was my first big opportunity and I was good at not letting it slip away. I won today, but I'll also help my teammates and already tomorrow could be Mathieu's stage."