Mike Teunissen faces his 7th Tour de France with mixed feelings: 'It has really changed in recent years'

In just over a week, Mike Teunissen will be lining up at the start of the Tour de France for the seventh time. Teunissen claimed the yellow jersey in Brussels in 2019, but has seen the Tour de France change over the years. According to the Dutchman, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for teams like XDS-Astana to compete for a podium finish. He explains why to IDL Pro Cycling

Teunissen, who is set to extend his contract with the Kazakh team, felt this year that his participation in the Tour wasn’t strictly necessary. Still, XDS-Astana continues to rely on him. He has an eye for positioning for team leader Harold Tejada, skills as a lead-out man for sprinter Max Kanter, and a role to play as road captain. He himself isn’t a fan of the term, but he is indispensable to the team.

And so Teunissen will “just” be there again on July 4 in Barcelona, hoping he can power his way up all the mountains and make it to Paris three weeks later. “Although the Tour has become very tough for a rider like me,” says the man who finished an impressive tenth at Paris-Roubaix this spring and recently made his mark again at the Baloise Belgium Tour, where team leader Kanter also finished in the top five three times.

Was this the intention behind the Baloise Belgium Tour?
"Yes, that's right. Actually, we wanted to get some race rhythm going here with Max [Kantar], to give him a little support. It's also a great race, and we had a strong team here, which allowed us to try to compete with the absolute best. Besides, there were a few opportunities for me here and there during the stages, but of course, you have to have strong legs for that.”

Was it actually the plan all year long to take Max to the Tour?
“Yes, that was indeed the plan going in. The idea was to win stages at Paris-Nice, and then we shifted our focus to the second half of the season, with Hungary, the Baloise Belgium Tour, and then the Tour.”

The Tour again.
“Yeah, though it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Especially if I actually get selected, it’ll be really cool to be there. It’s also great to be part of a team that has a shot at winning stages. But in my opinion, the Tour de France has really changed in recent years. These days, there are very few stages that end in a bunch sprint; everything has become so tough. But on the other hand, it’s also a great challenge to go for those stages and hopefully achieve a good result.”

The first opportunity for sprinters doesn't come until day five.
“I haven’t really looked at the route book very closely yet. I know we’re starting with a team time trial and that the second day will be tough, but other than that, I’d rather take it day by day. If you say that the fifth day is an opportunity, then I’ll take your word for it.”

So it’s not like you adjust your entire preparation just to get through those first four days better in preparation for that sprint?
"Well, in the Tour they sometimes say you can grow into the race, but with the way racing is done these days, you have to be on your game right from day one. You have to make sure you don’t lose any time. Especially with that team time trial coming up. We have riders like Harold Tejada, who’s going for the general classification, so as a team we just have to be sharp right from the start.”

Did you guys train a lot for the team time trial?
"Yeah, quite a bit. We did a specific training session at altitude every three days. Hoping we’ll finish tenth instead of eighteenth. Yeah, that’s what we’re doing it for, right?"

How should we assess Max? He’s very consistent, and of course he won that stage in Paris-Nice.
“That stage in Paris-Nice was a great moment for him. But here, it’s clear once again that the competition is a cut above. We have no choice but to do our best, and things went really well in Paris-Nice. That, of course, remains a great experience and shows that surprises are sometimes possible.”

So we can certainly dream, but realistically speaking, it’s going to be very difficult. For him, it’s his first Tour, and that always takes some getting used to. That was actually true for Biniam back then, too; it wasn’t until his second year that everything really fell into place. So who knows—maybe this will be a learning year, or maybe everything will just fall into place right away. We’ll see.'

While most teams headed to the Sierra Nevada, you were in Austria in May for an altitude training camp. Why?
“This was sponsored, so from a financial standpoint, it made more sense to go there. We were also able to drive straight there from the Tour of Hungary. And it’s really beautiful there. Good weather and very peaceful. I think there were as many as eighteen teams in the Sierra Nevada, so we were happy not to see any other teams there.”

I’ve been to the Sierra Nevada often enough myself. And altitude training is never really a walk in the park anyway, so it doesn’t really matter where you are. Although I do always really like the Sierra Nevada—it has a certain charm. As far as I’m concerned, we can definitely go back there next time, but the commercial side of things, you know…' (wink)

But as someone from Limburg, you do speak a little German, right? So you can get by with that.
“Oh yeah, haha, definitely! I was able to follow everything just fine. Austrian German is actually a little different from standard German, but it went well.”

First, there’s also the Dutch National Championship. What do you think about that, with legs like yours?
“But I’m pretty familiar with the area, since I train there often. It’ll be tough. I don’t think it’s my ideal course, but we’re going to make it a great day no matter what.”

What would it mean to you to become Dutch champion again, if you were still able to win that jersey?
“I used to have really big ambitions for that. Now I see it more as a nice day when my family can come watch and a good training session leading up to the Tour. I no longer put pressure on myself to win there. It’s mainly a good motivator for what’s still to come.”