Alpecin-Deceuninck have had a significant change in their
Tour de France at the start of the second week and have now won three stages. Jasper Philipsen has had his fair share of success and is realistically back in the fight for the points classification win, whilst the team is very keen on
Mathieu van der Poel's chances of winning stage 18.
"He will not be a lead-out there. There is a good chance for him there, but that does not automatically mean that it will lead to success," team manager Philip Roodhoft told Het Laatste Nieuws. "There are more riders who have their sights set on that day. But yes, it keeps him busy and motivates him. If an opportunity presents itself, he will not hesitate to seize it.”
Stage 18 into Barcelonnette has 3000 meters of climbing however throughout the Alpine valleys the riders will avoid any meaningful climb. It will be a day open to dozens of riders including rouleurs, classics specialists and the climbers as well, depending on where the decisive attacks take place. The World Champion is on rising form and this is his final chance to obtain a result in this Tour. Perhaps the last attempt to also truly test his form in a race before the Olympic Games Road Race that will take place in just over two weeks.
Roodhoft, for his part, believes the toughness of the race plays into the hands of the Dutchman: “It is a very tough Tour and I think that this is to Mathieu’s advantage, if you see what kind of athlete he is and what a powerful engine he has. He suffers relatively less than others in mountain stages, so it is logical that he still feels good about it in this third week.” Today into Super-Devoluy, Alpecin isn't expected to be a protagonist.
