Mathieu van der Poel "can still try and get the yellow jersey this year" on opening Tour de France week
Cycling
Mathieu van der Poel wore the yellow jersey on his debut Tour de France last year, after a set of strong performances on the opening hilly days. The route this year doesn't favour him the same way, however the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider will be on the hunt for the race lead.
“I have to see where I will be against the specialists in the TT - if I lose 10-15 seconds, which would be a really good performance, maybe I can try something in the days after. Maybe until the Roubaix stage it will be possible," van der Poel said regarding the possibility of netting the yellow jersey on the opening week of the Tour. "You never know. The time trial hurts anyway so you have to go all in and see what I can do.”
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Time-trial which will be crucial. With 13 kilometers in distance, and a significant technical aspect to it, van der Poel should be able to defend himself very well against the likes of Filippo Ganna and Wout van Aert. However he admits his level is inferior: “You have to have the best tech, the best aero position to even have a chance of winning. Power output alone is not enough anymore. It also makes it quite a cool aspect of the sport," he said.
“Of course I have the power to do it, and it means top-10s a lot of the time, but to really be amongst the best you have to get the marginal gains. It really means a whole year of working and having the ultimate aero position, and it’s not really the case in my set-up now, van der Poel added. Having finished fifth at last year's initial time-trial, and on the podium of both at this year's Giro, van der Poel does position himself as a contender for the podium.
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“Along the way I have made a few steps to get better, and I showed that already in some of my results, but to really beat the specialists is not something I believe in," he describes. However he is very conservative on the expectations, likely taking into consideration the less hilly route which he will find in Copenhagen.
"But tomorrow if I can put myself in the top-10, maybe something will be possible the day after and I can still try and get the yellow jersey this year. But it will be more difficult than last year," he concluded.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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