"I will be the last man for Jasper, just like last year" - Mathieu van der Poel looking to return to star leadout role at Tour de France

In 2023 Mathieu van der Poel tested himself in new grounds, racing as a leadout man for Jasper Philipsen in the spring with a lot of success. He then rode the Tour de France in that role and helped the Belgian to immense success; and the duo are looking to replicate that the successful formula once again this year.

"We are going to try to take that chance. The feeling is quite okay, of course I didn't have to go to the limit twice. We knew that this is the first big chance with Jasper," van der Poel told Wielerflits this morning at the start in Piacenza. "Normally yes. It depends on how everyone feels, but the plan is that I will be the last man for Jasper, just like last year."

The third day of the race will be the first opportunity for the sprinters to show their true colours. Whilst Wout van Aert and Mads Pedersen could sprint for a result on the opening day, it was barely a sign to the fast men's form and capacity to deal with a flat finale such as today's in Torino.

Besides the intermediate sprints, Alpecin-Deceuninck haven't really shown much this weekend. "As a team, we haven't shown yet that we have ridden well, but these were not our stages either," the World Champion acknowledges. "It is important to choose our days and these are the days to do that. It would be nice, but the rest also want to win. It's never easy, in that respect last year was exceptional. If we don't win, there will be more chances."

Alpecin will have a lot of tough competition, the sprinter field at the Tour is luxurious but other teams such as Jayco AlUla and Astana also come in with very strong leadouts capable of matching the Belgian team. As for van der Poel himself, he has not felt his best and is still hoping to reach that level and be able to fight for a win himself this month. "It's a bit of an income of course, I had hoped to be a bit better already. The heat is also playing tricks on me, but there will be enough chances."