Next - and one but last - stop in our preparation for the Tour de France: @belgium_tour. With @mathieuvdpoel and @JasperPhilipsen as our leaders. Tomorrow we kick off in Scherpenheuvel ⛪, Sunday we finish in Brussels. #alpecindeceuninck
"I start here with ambition" - Mathieu van der Poel looking for wins as Belgium Tour whilst Jasper Philipsen hunts sprints
CyclingWednesday, 14 June 2023 at 14:54
The Baloise Belgium Tour starts today and it features many of the sprinters and classics riders which will star at the upcoming Tour de France. Mathieu van der Poel is among them and he's looking to succeed and show good form on his week of return to competition.
"Of course I start here with ambition. Together with Jasper Philipsen, who is also doing well and should also be able to go for the general classification, I think," van der Poel said at the start of the day. He will be one of the favourites for the overall classification, which should be decided on stages 3 and 4 where he riders tackle a medium-sized time-trial and an explosive hilly day.
Away from the mountains of the Criterium du Dauphiné and Tour de Suisse, the Alpecin-Deceuninck duo has decided to place it's chips in Belgium, where they find better suited terrain. Jasper Philipsen, who's had a tremendous spring, is looking to test his Tour leadout here and hoping that all the pieces of the puzzle will fit together.
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"This week I especially want to get our sprint train for the Tour de France back on track," he tells. "I think there are three flat stages: Scherpenheuvel, Knokke and Brussels. Those are three rides that should suit me and that I want to go full for. The final stage to Brussels with arrival under the Atomium has a high Champs-Elysées content. If I had to choose one, I would like to win that stage."
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- Most of these have nothing to do with rider safety or are completely unachievablevappaxbipmv23-12-2024
- Depends on how fast the Cipressa would be beforehand and in what condition Philipsen would bevappaxbipmv23-12-2024
- Some things sound crazy until they aren't, what if he's actually right? 🤷vappaxbipmv23-12-2024
- Why make a comment to state the obvious? Of course MvdP is much better at CX than Pogacar, does anyone doubt that But that wasn't his pointvappaxbipmv23-12-2024
- If you look at road alone obvi Pogacar is the better rider. But maybe MVDP is the better overall rider since he can win in three plus disciplines?mobk23-12-2024
- Correction on 2021 Olympics. It was mainly the Dutch ladies who didn’t know who was leading the race. Other teams like the Germans and Italians knew that Kiesenhofer was out front.mobk23-12-2024
- A champion turning into a sore loser. Or is he on coke again?
UltimateOpportunist23-12-2024 - If you look at the major races they’ve both been in, van der Poel had the early edge as lately Pogacar has had the advantage. It’s all on procyclingstats.RidesHills23-12-2024
- I wouldn’t assume Tadej can’t win at cross. He did a cross race, not a World Cup, a few years ago and crushed the field. It was a minor race. But he can win anywhere.mij23-12-2024
- I wonder what would happen if Pogacar attacked on the Cipressa instead of the Poggio in San Remo? Would MvdPoel still be able to follow?Ride197423-12-2024