Michael Boogerd doesn't favor Mathieu van der Poel for first yellow jersey: "I expect UAE to make the race tough"
Cycling
Tour de France will start on Saturday, June 29. While the battle for overall victory will last for three weeks, many eyes will follow closely the fight for the first yellow jersey in Rimini.
Tom Dumoulin is convinced Mathieu van der Poel won't be in the mix on a hard stage from Florence and De Telegraaf columnist Michael Boogerd agrees with the take.
"If you look at the first stage, it will be too difficult for Van der Poel with a few vicious climbs," Boogerd thinks. "If Tadej Pogacar feels good right away and notices that Jonas Vingegaard is not yet at his best, I expect UAE to make the race tough."
In addition, Boogerd doesn't favor the world champion for stage win the following day either. "The yellow jersey will be a difficult story, and the second stage is not really ideal for Van der Poel either. But yes, Van der Poel has surprised us before, although I assume that he is focusing on stages further on in the Tour," he refers for example the gravel stage 9 in Troyes.
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- And your point is what exactly?vappaxbipmv22-12-2024
- MVDP dominates this sport even more than Pogaçar dominates road racing. Also he can beat Tadej on the road quite regularly, the opposite is unlikely.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- If you listen to team radios you'll hear each DS telling their riders to ride faster, fight their way to the front, and all occupy the same 8 places.Sweep22-12-2024
- You're talking about a sport where equipment and clothing is measured in grams.Sweep22-12-2024
- “During a TT, I am basically blind”. That was his quote after crashing into the barriers in a TT. The problem isn’t the UCI, radios or air bags. The problem is the riders and their teams.JoeyB22-12-2024
- I think you overestimate scientific knowledge and for sure the spreading of it. There are huge numbers of people in similar situations, if there were an easy solution somebody would be making big money out of it. Nerve pain can have many complex origins or be due to complex combinations of reasons. Even if you discover a reason there is not always a solution. Migraines haven’t been solved either. I have had lower back/hip nerve pains on and off for over 30 years, no kind of doctor has ever found a way to reduce, prevent or solve the problem. It may just be that some people are born with nerves that are too short or get twisted out of position during certain movements.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- Amazing ride by her and very promising for her future. On a side note, it’s a bit worrying all these wins riders have after emotional moments in their lives, someone will come up with emotional doping at some point. Maybe give them fake news just before a big race to get hormones pumping.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- I doubt he will have the energy to do that if he continues to do leadout for Phillipsenabstractengineer22-12-2024
- I know several people who’ve tried contacting sport airbag manufacturers and none of them ever got a reply. Might be hard to organise anything with such attitudes.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- It's the BBC. Who cares outside of little Britain.leodis22-12-2024