Mathieu van der Poel had the goal to win the overall classification at the Baloise Belgium Tour, and he's succeeded. The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider has proven other and himself that he's got the right form ahead of the Tour de France, and now it is a matter of staying healthy into the race.
"I came here to win the final classification and I succeeded. It was fun and a successful week for our team," van der Poel said in the flash interview, having finished the final stage safely in the peloton. The last fifteen kilometers were quite hectic. We did well as a team. I haven't seen the sprint again, so I don't know exactly what happened. I think Jasper lost some speed in that last corner. That's a pity, but otherwise we did well."
Whilst the Belgian team could not deliver Philipsen to a stage win today, they managed to win the GC of the race. Philipsen sprinted to second and after a very active week, van der Poel took the overall win ahead of Soren Waerenskjold and Casper Pedersen.
The national championships follow in his schedule. “I haven't looked at the course in detail yet. It is always a fight against other teams with many riders, who have a surplus. That is difficult to race, but of course we will try to win the race.
Now however, the opening days of the Tour are a priority, where the yellow jersey will be on hand in the Basque Country with two hilly days. "The first days in the Basque Country are really difficult. However, the form is good and we worked hard for it. All I can do now is rest and stay healthy and then we'll see what happens in the Tour."
Asked if he was pointing towards specific stages, the Dutchman hints at some: "I don't know exactly yet, but in weeks two and three there will normally be rides for the breakaway, and I can take my chance there too. We're going to look at that day by day."
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