Adrie van der Poel: "I think the winner of the World Championship comes from the Tour"

Three excellent lead outs for Jasper Philipsen is the score for Mathieu van der Poel in the Tour de France 2023 to date. In addition, he caught a cold on the night after rest day and there are not many opportunities for him in the remainder of the route reckons his father Adrie van der Poel in an interview for WielerFlits.

According to the latter, his son has been quite relaxed through the Tour so far. "The ambitions for the start of Alpecin-Deceuninck were clear: try to win a stage and then think about the green jersey. I don't have to draw any further: four stage wins and a big lead in the points classification. Now it's important to take some intermediate sprints every now and then and make sure you stay upright. It looks good. Next Friday and on the Champs-Élysées, two more chances will follow."

Mathieu van der Poel is mainly involved in supporting Philipsen. "The past has also taught us that he can ignore others," Adrie points out. "If Mathieu can win another stage himself or be part of a good breakaway, that would be good. It is of course about him coming out of the Tour fresh and then going into the coming months with a very good feeling. You can accrue super compensation in the two weeks after the Tour. I think the winner of the World Championship comes from the Tour."