"A stage win would of course do him good" - Alpecin-Deceuninck hopeful for Mathieu van der Poel's last race in Rainbow Jersey at Tour de Luxembourg 2024

At the 2024 Tour de Luxembourg, Mathieu van der Poel wears the Rainbow Jersey as world road race champion for the final time, ahead of the defence of his title in Zürich on the 29th of September. Can he head to Switzerland in winning form? Alpecin-Deceuninck are hopeful.

“As he himself indicated on Sunday: five extra days of competition will come in handy. It could easily have been a few more. But hey, that's the way it is,” says team manager and sports director at Alpecin-Deceuninck, Christoph Roodhooft in conversation with HLN. “The classification will not immediately become an objective. But a stage win would of course do him good. That is certainly allowed.”

At the recent European Championships in Limburg, Van der Poel was attacking throughout and a real protagonist although ultimately, was left unrewarded for his efforts. “Mathieu tried to make it a hard race. And in view of the upcoming World Championship, his absolute main goal this autumn, that was good,” Roodhooft assesses contentedly. “The course was a bit too easy and he himself was not yet in optimal shape."

"Don't forget that he had only been back from altitude two days. With a few more cones on board, that last break with Mads Pedersen, Christophe Laporte and co. might reach the finish," continues the Alpecin-Deceuninck boss. "There, for example, he missed Wout van Aert, who always raced at full speed, as an ally. Although, it wouldn't have changed the Belgian tactics, I think. It would have been a sprint anyway.”

With Van der Poel joined by a list of fellow World Championship hopefuls in Luxembourg, such as Marc Hirschi, Juan Ayuso, Mattias Skjelmose and more, competition is set to be fierce. Straight away on stage 1 however, Van der Poel has an immediate opportunity to take the morale boosting stage victory ahead of the World Championships.