Last year Mathieu van der Poel already hit the mark in the second Tour stage and wore the yellow for six days. The contrast with this year is great. The Dutchman has kept quiet in recent days and also indicated that he is not yet super. After a month without a race since the Giro, it is still looking for the right rhythm.
Ex-rider Thomas Dekker let his light shine on Van der Poel in the Evening Stage. He does not have high expectations for his compatriot in this Tour. “I think it will be a difficult Tour for Van der Poel. Van Aert is simply faster when it comes to a sprint and he is also a better time trialist. Van Aert is also very good at the rides that remain.”
“In the Tour, people often don’t race like in the Giro, where we often saw Van der Poel driving in front of the peloton. Van der Poel is not the best uphill and there are few rolling stages. The cobblestone stage on Wednesday is of course a great opportunity for him. But there are few options.”
Van der Poel was very strong in the Giro, but according to Dekker that is not a reference for the Tour. “This is yet another level. It is more nervous, the specialism is greater in certain areas. Van der Poel is of course an all-rounder. He will probably pull something out of his top hat, but it won’t be easy this Tour.”
“Taking yellow is also difficult. He is already 20 seconds behind Van Aert. He must already have bad luck or not be part of the attack.”
–
Van der Poel himself ticked two days this week: tomorrow the cobblestone stage to Arenberg and Thursday the puncher stage to Longwy. “Of course he will race on Wednesday, because then those cobblestones will be there. But on Thursday everyone will still be reasonably fresh and the interests are very high,” says Dekker.
“If he waits for the sprint on that final slope, Van Aert will beat him. I now rate him higher. But aIf he wins on Wednesday, his Tour is successful and makes it all doesn’t matter anymore. Van Aert will be his biggest competitor there, but he does have the great advantage that Van Aert still has to look around to Roglic and Vinegaard.”
“But then there is also the bad luck, the riders who can’t ride the cobblestones very well, the classification riders… It’s going to be a race within a race. We saw that when Lars Boom won that stage. There are a lot of interests .”
“We are just going to get a lot of clarity on Wednesday and Thursday. I think that Van der Poel will have succeeded in his Tour if he only wins one stage. He colored the entire race in the Giro and then he only won one stage. You just don’t win a match that easily, especially when the specialism gets so big.”
“He has to hope that there are a few more stages where 20 riders will start and that he is with them. But really getting away from the favorites and the strongest riders at the moment supreme is very difficult.”
–
