"Those two are really not normal. They are so much better than the rest" - Oliver Naesen on riding against Tadej Pogacar & Mathieu van der Poel

Although both competing with different objectives, two of the stars of the quickly approaching 2024 Tour de France are sure to be the recently crowned Giro d'Italia winner Tadej Pogacar and the current Rainbow Jersey, Mathieu van der Poel.

One of those with the somewhat unenviable task of competing against the superstar duo, will be Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team's Oliver Naesen. "Those two are really not normal. They are just so much better than the rest," the 33-year-old Belgian says in conversation with In de Leiderstrui. "Then we no longer talk about better bicycles or whatever. There's nothing bad about that. I think those guys were just born as some kind of mutation, it can hardly be otherwise."

A fan of horse racing, Naesen has come up with a neat anecdote in order to compare the qualities of Pogacar and van der Poel. "In the horse world people always talk about ''the father of'' on dad's side and 'the grandfather of' on the mother's side. In Mathieu's case that is exactly right, isn't it," Naesen notes, referring to the world champion's father, Adrie van der Poel and grandfather, the legendary Raymond Poulidor. "Mathieu would be a powerful horse! If you take a skin cell from him and put it under the microscope, you will simply see that it is better than the rest."

On whether or not Naesen will be able to get his own chances to shine at the upcoming Grand Tour, the Belgian isn't totally convinced. "In recent years I have often been asked: Ollie, if the opportunity arises in a transition stage, can we expect you? Usually a rider like me gets his chances in the stages when you are already a bit tired, after you have fulfilled your helping role for days or weeks," he explains. "Then it is not always possible anymore, I must admit. But take last year. There were three transition stages and I was there three times. One time Matej Mohoric won, the other two times we were away with fifty, including Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar... That doesn't make you happy, I can tell you!"