Mathieu van der Poel reflects on quiet Tour de France opening week: ‘It’s a matter of patience’

It’s not quite the Tour de France for Mathieu van der Poel yet. The Dutch rider from Alpecin-Premier Tech made his first appearance on Friday in Bordeaux, where he delivered a strong lead-out for Jasper Philipsen. Otherwise, Van der Poel has to accept that the conditions aren’t quite to his liking.

Van der Poel had indicated beforehand that the yellow jersey was on his mind during the opening week, but with the racing strategy employed by UAE Emirates-XRG, there was little for riders like him to gain. As a result, we saw less of him in the first week than, for example, in 2025, when he took the yellow jersey and won a stage in the early days.

“That’s right. There wasn’t really much for me to do beforehand either,” Van der Poel himself told the NOS. “In hindsight, things might have gone a little better, but I think that so far, the only real chance was in that stage Mads Pedersen won (Stage 4, ed.). But I just wasn’t good enough then. So it’s a matter of being patient.”

The heat didn’t exactly help either: Van der Poel isn’t exactly a fan of it. “But of course, that’s the same for everyone. Some people just handle it better than others. You can’t change anything about it anyway, so it’s just a matter of waiting and seeing,” he says, refusing—as always—to make excuses.

Back in the spring, he fought a few battles with Tadej Pogacar, who seems to have a firm grip on the yellow jersey after just one week of the Tour de France. Has the Tour already been decided, according to Van der Poel? “It’s still a bit early to say. Of course, he’s broken the morale of the rest of the field, but it’s still a very long Tour.”

“It’s going to be very difficult to beat him anyway, but we still have two weeks to go. Anything can still happen, so it’s still a long way to Paris,” said Van der Poel, who isn’t easily surprised by Pogacar anymore. “No, to be honest, not really. He’d have to pull off something truly exceptional—like winning a sprint stage—for us to be genuinely surprised, I think.”

On Saturday, Van der Poel, Philipsen, and Alpecin-Premier Tech will have another chance. The eighth stage looks set to end in a bunch sprint. On Sunday, there may be an opportunity for an early breakaway in a stage with 3,300 meters of climbing to Ussel.