"I hope to be there next week" - Mike Teunissen aims for a Tour de France nomination after strong season
Cycling
Only a selected group of riders in the professional peloton can refer to themselves as Tour de France stage winners - and just a handful had the privilege of wearing yellow jersey at the Grande Boucle. Mike Teunissen is not winning race after race, but everything seems to have clicked at the Belgian Grand Départ in 2019 for the Dutchman who secured his career highlight in Brussels.
A couple years down the road, and the 32-year-old is now most likely returning for his sixth round in France as an experienced matador, ready to guide the success-hungry XDS Astana Team towards glory.
Who exactly will represent the Kazakh team over the three weeks? We don't know yet, but it's almost safe to assume Teunissen will be a part of that selection.
"I hope to be there next week," he tells WielerFlits. "I will still be at altitude until Friday, so I think I have prepared myself well, if I am officially selected later."
Mike Teunissen during 2025 Paris-Roubaix (finished 16th)
His role however will be vastly different from last year, when he guided Biniam Girmay to three stage wins and a historic Green jersey. Astana simply don't have a fast man of such caliber and so it might be even up to Teunissen himself to hang around in bunch arrivals.
But we can only guess for now since the Dutchman is keeping the possible division of roles a secret for now. The fact is that he is currently preparing in Austria with compatriot Cees Bol, Aaron Gate and Florian Samuel Kajamini. The Italian with Dutch roots is there in preparation for the Tour of Qinghai Lake. "We also have to score UCI points there," laughs Teunissen.
For now, we assume that Bol, Simone Velasco, Alberto Bettiol or Clément Champoussin should accompany Teunissen at the Grand Départ in Lille. Harold Tejada was also due to ride the Tour, but it's not clear how his injury from Tour de Suisse affected his preparation.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
- Yeah man...PogiSloFans07-11-2026
- any rider less than 25 whether they are really ready for the position of leadership of GT is probably not the case. I think Pogi himself suffered when he was defeated by Jonas in the TDF twice. But that would be the team's job to ensure support so that they can bounce back. It requires a team and time to get back up and win after getting knocked down.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I'm very glad he got the big late Quickstep Vuelta win and I hope he has a few left for Euskaltel-Euskadi.flyer07-11-2026
- My memories of Ivan Basso aren't good but I liked his sister Elisa ok.flyer07-11-2026
Loading
Write a comment