Van der Poel praises Visma | Lease a Bike's move, fired-up Alpecin-Deceuninck and Radio Tour after "unique opportunity"

"It was stressful all day, but it never really went wrong," said the former world champion. However, with 30 kilometers to go, Visma made a move, and we had several riders from the team with them. We knew this was a unique opportunity. When things slowed down, I tried to maintain the pace as best I could, and with a smaller group, it's ultimately easier to execute the lead-out perfectly.

And it was perfect, with Philipsen not pedaling too hard and ultimately celebrating a few bike lengths ahead of Biniam Girmay. According to Van der Poel, the fact that the first group worked so well together right from the start was also due to the Tour organization. “It was clear pretty quickly in our earpieces who was with us and who wasn't. That's the advantage of the Tour, where that information is always passed on quickly over the radio. I said this morning that it can never be perfect in a first stage like this, but circumstances made it work.”

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For Van der Poel, it also feels like a win, especially since Alpecin-Deceuninck played the Philipsen card in the first stage. “The team has given me so many great victories, so it's fantastic now to take the stage and the yellow jersey with Jasper. That's a big victory for the whole team and very important. We know our qualities as a team, and we go all out for them; that's kind of how it is.”