"I do see a lot of opportunities for punchers like Van der Poel" - Jose De Cauwer sees route to Maillot Jaune for Alpecin star at 2025 Tour de France

The 2025 Tour de France might be over half a year away, but the next edition of the fight for the Maillot Jaune is already the talk of the cycling world following the official reveal of the route and profile earlier this week.

As always, one of the talking points is who can get their hands on the Maillot Jaune in the opening week, before the general classification contenders such as Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard take control of yellow the closer the Champs Elysée's gets. One of those with hopes is likely to be Alpecin-Deceuninck superstar, Mathieu van der Poel and according to Sporza expert Jose De Cauwer, we could see the Dutchman in cycling's most iconic jersey next summer.

"In next year's Tour, I do see a lot of opportunities for punchers like Van der Poel and riders over 70 kilograms," previews the vastly experienced Belgian expert in his post-reveal analysis of the 2025 Tour de France route and profile. "Especially in that long first week. Many of those stages are labelled 'sprints', but there are often climbs towards the end of those stages."

"It is also important that those types will be able to fight for the yellow jersey in the first days," De Cauwer continues. "This year we had the Galibier on the 4th day. After such a mountain so early in a Grand Tour, there were only a few riders left to shine in the yellow jersey. For classic riders it is definitely worth coming to the Tour next year."

On the 7th stage, Van der Poel's best chance might come as the race returns to the Mûr-de-Bretagne, a place the Dutchman has history. "With those kinds of stages I immediately ask myself the question: which of the GC riders can handle that best?", De Cauwer muses in conclusion also casting a thought to those hoping for the Maillot Jaune in Paris. "Who panics the most in that first week? Who can position themselves best? Then I think that Pogacar and Evenepoel may have a slight advantage over Vingegaard. He has some problems with positioning and will have to rely mainly on his team in those stages."