Tour debutant impresses in the mountains as Van der Poel's domestique: "It wasn’t easy to be up there"

Emiel Verstrynge is riding his first ever Tour de France. His goal? To make himself noticed. “I want to get into the break,” he told Het Laatste Nieuws. “If possible, at least. Because this is the Tour, of course. You can make all the wild plans you want, say ‘I’m going to do this or that,’ but it doesn’t mean it’ll work out. So maybe I’ll have to go about it another way.”

And that other way? He showed it on Monday. On Quatorze Juillet, during the toughest stage of the race so far, the Belgian suddenly appeared in the final group with the GC favorites. He finished 32nd, on the same time as Mattias Skjelmose and ahead of Romain Grégoire. A cyclo-cross rider who races in the winter for Crelan-Corendon, Verstrynge is not only making his Tour debut but is in his first season at WorldTour level. The fact that he’s already showing up on the sport’s biggest stage speaks volumes about his talent.

But as a domestique, the man from Eeklo is also playing a key role. He’s gaining valuable experience, and proving useful in the sprint finishes. In stage 9, where Mathieu van der Poel pulled at the front, it was Verstrynge who did excellent disrupting work in the peloton. “It wasn’t easy to be up there. But it was the least I could do. Even if it’s just small things I can do to help the team, I get a huge amount of satisfaction from it.”

With all the team success and his own performance, he’s having an incredible Tour so far. “Yeah, it’s unique, isn’t it! They did prepare me a bit for the possibility of something like this, but now that I’m actually in the middle of it, the realization is really sinking in that I’m part of something special with these guys. So I try to enjoy it as much as I can. Many other riders, who might return to this race for years, may never have the privilege of experiencing this.”

So yes, he's enjoying every moment—but the lean Flemish rider is keeping his head cool amid all the chaos and pressure. “I knew it was going to be pretty extreme. The thing is, the Tour as an event is really alive. You see it in the huge crowds by the roadside. The media. Everyone. The atmosphere around it is incredible. You realize this isn’t just some ‘regular’ race. I try to take that all in as positively as I can.”

His mindset is solid, and physically, things are going well too, judging by his results. “I’m riding with decent form, and that makes a big difference. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I told myself to stay open to feedback and focus on learning. That’s exactly what I’m doing right now. I’d never raced more than eight days in a row before, but so far everything is going great. Better than expected, even. I’m sleeping well and recovering quickly. It’s honestly such a fun way to make my debut.”

With the Tour now in his legs, Verstrynge hopes to take some major steps forward in his road career. He’s signed with Alpecin-Deceuninck through 2028, but also thinks La Grande Boucle will make him a better cyclocross rider. “My teammate Jimmy Janssens told me at the start of the season: ‘a Grand Tour adds an extra gear to your engine.’” (laughs) “I’ll gladly take that extra gear!”