Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen lead Alpecin-Deceuninck at Tour de France

Alpecin-Deceuninck - known until the 30th of June as Alpecin-Fenix - will be riding the Tour de France with the sole goal of obtaining as much stage wins as possible and they have two weapons for the task: Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen.

Van der Poel raced the Giro d'Italia after the cobbled classics campaign where he successfully took a stage win and rode the opening days in the pink jersey. He's spent some time at altitude in Livigno before the Tour and will be coming in cold with no racing kilometers, but will have big ambitions in the opening week with two hilltop finishes and a cobbled stage in northern France. Michael Gogl and Edward Planckaert will be assisting him in these hilly stages, as the rest of the team is more geared towards Philipsen.

Philipsen, who finished six times in the podium last year in the race's sprints, will be trying to turn that into a win here. Although a brilliant rider in positioning, his leadout won't be as strong as some of the rival teams. Kristian Sbaragli and van der Poel himself will be crucial figures, as will Alexander Krieger. Silvan Dillier will be a wildcard for breakaways on the rolling stages mostly, he and Guillaume van Keirsbulck are also set to be important support riders for the sprint stages.

Alpecin-Deceuninck for Tour de France: Mathieu van der Poel, Silvan Dillier, Alexander Krieger, Edward Planckaert, Jasper Philipsen, Guillaume van Keirsbulck, Kristian Sbaragli and Michael Gogl.