Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has opened the door to a first Giro d'Italia appearance in 2026, admitting in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport that "it would not be bad to win a couple of stages at the Giro" once his main objectives are ticked off.
Those objectives remain clear. Philipsen still circles the Monuments and the Tour de France as the pillars of his programme, even as his team nudges him further towards the cobbled Classics. Adding a three-week sprint campaign in May is less a romantic Italian detour, more a scheduling equation.
"It's still too early to make a decision," Philipsen said in the interview. "We need to carefully define the program for the new season and first of all figure out where I'll be racing in January."
The 2026 Giro route, revealed on 1 December, has tilted the maths. Eight flat stages and a 40.2 km individual time trial promise space for sprinters to rack up wins while the general classification riders worry about watts and wash on the Passo Giau.
For Philipsen, already a stage winner at the Tour and Vuelta, a single victory in Italy would complete the Grand Tour hat-trick.
Complication comes in the shape of rivals and fatigue. He has already identified Italian rider and likely Giro attendee Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) as formidable in bunch sprints, while adding a major block of racing could compromise Philipsen's chances of a fresh run at the Tour de France.
If Alpecin-Deceuninck decide to send their full sprint train, the Giro could become Philipsen’s most profitable playground yet. If they hold the line on a Classics-first strategy, that "couple of stages" in Italy may stay theoretical for one more year.
