Mathieu van der Poel reveals his strategy for day one of the Tour de France: 'Up to me to go full throttle'
CyclingThursday, 02 July 2026 at 17:11
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Follow us on GoogleFor the sixth time in his career, Mathieu van der Poel will be on the start line of the Tour de France in Barcelona on Saturday. As it happens, the last team time trial in La Grande Boucle was seven years ago, so Van der Poel is due for a new Tour de France experience. On Thursday, the Dutchman attended the press conference organised by A.S.O.
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The event took place at the Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau, a ten-minute walk from the Sagrada Familia. There, Van der Poel—along with many other participants at the race—will be introduced to the Spanish and international audiences later that same evening, Two days later, Van Der Poel and his team will roll down the start ramp for the Grand Départ.
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Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen for the Tour de France
Van der Poel on the team time trial on Day 1 of the Tour de France
Day one is an important one for the team, because with an eye toward the yellow jersey later on, he wants to go all out in the team time trial. “We’ve trained a bit more on it with the whole team, because the team time trial is already in the first stage. For me, that also meant I had to spend more hours on the bike than I normally do. It was great to work on this together with the team, and hopefully we can achieve a good result.”
The final preparations were made at the circuit in Zolder, Belgium. “But I don’t think there’s anything particularly special about the tactics. It’s just a matter of trying to get to the last two climbs and the technical sections as quickly as possible. From there, it’ll be up to me to go full throttle toward the finish line.”
"I expect that some of the other teams will, of course, do exactly the same thing. We don't have a general classification contender, which might make it a little easier for us not to have to defend one," said the Alpecin-Premier Tech team leader. "But these days, the level of the general classification contenders is so high that they’re also the favorites for a stage like this."
On day two, the peloton will finish on Montjuic again, this time after a tricky final stretch. “Yes, that’s going to be very tough, too. These days, there are riders like Tadej [Pogačar] and Remco [Evenepoel] who can also go all out for these kinds of finishes. It’ll be tough, but we’re obviously going to give it a shot and see how it goes.”
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Van der Poel is looking forward to the Tour de France
Van der Poel—who has already won just about everything there is to win—is no longer under pressure. “It’s actually really great to be part of this generation of cyclists. It doesn’t put any extra pressure on me. I’ve had good Tours and not-so-good Tours, so hopefully this year will be a good one again. As I’ve said a few times before, we have a really great team here.”
"With Jasper, too: last year we got off to a great start and were well on our way to possibly winning the green jersey again, so hopefully we can go for it again this year," said Van der Poel, who saw his sprint leader Philipsen drop out early in 2025 and ultimately went for the green jersey himself. He himself had to withdraw from the race in the third week due to pneumonia.
He’s already looking forward to it—maybe even more than in other years. “I think it’s simple, just like every year: try to win a stage. I also want to help Jasper a little in his quest for the green jersey. It’s just great to start like this in a big city. The first few stages could be interesting for us as a team, so hopefully we can get off to a start just as successful as last year.”
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Tom van der Salm (27) comes from the charming town of Zeilberg (Deurne) in the Netherlands and has been working as editor-in-chief & journalist at IDL Pro Cycling's parent site, In de Leiderstrui, since 2019. He travels with the peloton from the Tour de France to the AlUla Tour and from the World Championships in Rwanda or Canada to the Zilvermeercross in Mol. In his spare time he enjoys playing football, mountain biking, running, walking with his Labrador/Stabyhoun, investing, holidays, (specialty) beers, reading, cooking and watching sports & documentaries!
Contact: [email protected]
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Latest Comments
- - Grande artículo, pero falta hablar de las contrarrelojes técnicas. Si hay lluvia o viento lateral, Pog y Vingo pueden perder/gastar segundos por simple riesgo, no solo por vatios.patriciaw02-07-2026
- - Not sure about Paul Seixas for third… feels a bit premature. Ayuso has the engine for third if he doesn’t burn too many matches early. Del Toro could podium, but he’s still inconsistent on third‑week durability. Lipowitz is the dark horse for steady top-5, not fireworks.lindae02-07-2026
- - Vingo’s Giro was “untroubled,” but the level and heat there weren’t Pog’s spring steamroller. Key will be team depth: UAE vs Visma. If Visma stack the valleys and crosswinds, they can isolate Pog on a medium mountain day. Otherwise he’ll just surf wheels and snipe bonuses.bikebuffj02-07-2026
- - Are time trials usually that decisive in the Tour? If both are strong climbers, why wouldn’t mountain stages make a bigger gap?jeremya02-07-2026
- - Wild how people still doubt Pog after Suisse and that Romandie/Ronde/Strade run. But Valverde’s right on the TT angle—2026 course has enough chrono kms that pacing and aero could flip seconds into minutes if someone cracks.gearguru3302-07-2026
- - Petite question: s’il n’y a pas de leader pour le général, est-ce que ça change la stratégie sur Montjuïc le deuxième jour? Moins de contrôle du peloton, non?tourdeforce902-07-2026
- - Massive respect for how he framed GC dynamics—these days Pogi and Remco can win a punchy TTT-ish opener too. Still, MvdP on a technical finish is box office. Vamos Mathieu!raceready702-07-2026
- - Not sure about “nothing special about the tactics.” On a technical TTT you can’t just brute-force it; pacing order, pull lengths, and who takes the corners matters loads. Hope they’ve actually simulated that, not just “go fast to the climbs.”davidm02-07-2026
- - Great to hear they’re all-in for Jasper and the green again. If Philipsen’s sprint train is as dialed as last July, watch out. Barcelona opener plus Montjuïc on day two screams chaos and bonus seconds.cyclechamp4502-07-2026
- - Slightly confused: is stage 1 really a team time trial with climbs and a technical run-in? I thought TTTs are usually flatter. How does the timing work—first rider across or fourth?julien02-07-2026
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