“This year, Mathieu's goal is to win another stage" - Van der Poel determined to impress at Tour de France says Christophe Roodhooft

Although it was always expected, Mathieu van der Poel was recently confirmed for an appearance at the Tour de France later this summer by the Alpecin-Deceuninck team.

With just 7 race days in his legs so far this year however, there was some talk that the world champion may yet ride some races between now and the Grand Depart in Florence. According to Alpecin-Deceuninck boss, Christoph Roodhooft however, the likelihood of seeing van der Poel back in action prior to the Tour de France is very slim.

“I don't expect anything more to come. I don't see where there is any room for that either," Roodhooft explains about his star rider's plans in conversation with Wielerflits. "He is going on an altitude training camp to La Plagne and the time between all races is quite limited. There are not many competitions in the period before the Tour. After the Tour, it is barely a fortnight until the Olympic Games and the rest will follow soon. It's all quite full already. And preparations take a lot of time these days, sometimes to our regret. In our case, as things are going now with Mathieu and our other leaders, it is the right choice to race less.”

Despite having had just 7 race days, van der Poel has made a considerable impact in 2024 already. Adding two further monuments to his palmares at Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, the world champion also helped teammate, Jasper Philipsen to victory at Milano-Sanremo.

“To be clear: the Tour has never been a preparation race for Mathieu. Not last year either, but he got sick on the first day of rest. That lasted until the second day of rest. Later he tried a few more times to make a chance out of something that was actually not a chance. Against my better judgment, but still tried under the motto 'you never know'. His big chances should have been in that second week, but then he was ill," Roodhooft continues. “This year, Mathieu's goal is to win another stage. Especially considering that last week, it will be difficult enough to do well with both Philipsen and Van der Poel. Something can still be done in that last week, but it will still be difficult.”

Notably absent from van der Poel's summer calendar however, it the Olympic MTB. Instead the Dutchman will focus solely on the road race at the coming Paris Games. "There was also the track to send Mathieu to both the mountain bike and the road race. We thought about all the choices, but this seemed the best to us," Roodhooft explains. "Next week the World Cup round awaits in Nove Mesto, a fantastic mountain bike race where he also won his first World Cup. It's not easy to pass that up. It has become difficult to do things right everywhere and always. And we try to do that, that is why we have made a clear choice.”