Mathieu van der Poel is widely considered a favorite to be the first wearer of yellow jersey: "In the first week I already expect a lot from van der Poel"

There's still nearly two weeks left before Tour de France 2023 with many teams still waiting to reveal their final lineups, but there are already many predictions placed for the race. One of the most popular opinion among cycling public is the one that Mathieu van der Poel will be wearing yellow jersey after the opening stage in Pays Basque.

"It remains bizarre how good Van der Poel is when he has set his sights on something," De Telegraaf sees. "Of course things sometimes go wrong, such as in 2021 during the Olympic mountain bike race or last year when the Tour de France became a complete flop for the cycling phenomenon. In the Tour of Belgium he showed his class, albeit not against a high-quality peloton, by relegating the rest to extras."

"Write it down: Van der Poel is one of the big favorites to wear the yellow on Saturday 1 July after the first stage of the Tour starting in Bilbao. On a similar course, the leader of Alpecin-Deceuninck rode almost forty kilometers solo on Saturday to stage and overall victory in the Baloise Belgium Tour," writes Het Nieuwsblad full of awe.

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"He was without a doubt the strongest in the race. So strong that the competition in the queen stage made a tactical plan without taking into account the Dutch leader of Alpecin-Deceuninck. Van der Poel is ready for a leading role in the Tour." Or as HLN columnist Michel Wuyts writes: "He's going to cause a lot of noise. In the first week I already expect a lot from him. Unlike Van Aert, he doesn't have to take anyone into account."