Classics star Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) is hopeful that he can wear the yellow jersey again at this year's Tour de France, even if he feels that "nothing is a must anymore" in his highly successful career.
Van der Poel, who has been road World Champion and won Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders three times each, has won two Tour de France stages in his career and wore the yellow jersey for six days in 2021 and four in 2025.
Usually at the Tour, his role is a mixture of going for his own chances on punchy stages and being a lead-out rider de luxe for Jasper Philipsen, but this year, the early challenging stages mean he could have a chance at donning the iconic yellow jersey once more.
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Alpecin-Premier Tech aren't favourites for the opening team time trial in Barcelona, but if they can ride well enough to keep Van der Poel in sight of yellow, he could have a chance on the Montjuïc finish on stage 2, or even in a breakaway raid on stage 3, though the second stage seems most suited to him.
"The plan is to stay in the running to potentially go for that yellow jersey again in the days that follow," he told NOS at the Tour de Suisse, his return to road racing before the Tour.
"But you have riders like Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard, and Remco Evenepoel. If they set their sights on it, then it will be very difficult. But we are going to try."
Whether it's possible or not for Van der Poel to move into yellow will probably be known quite quickly after the TTT when the first time gaps are clear, and he admitted that was the team's first challenge.
"Hopefully we can spring a surprise, but it will be difficult," he said. "We have invested a lot of time in it, though. And with the riders we have, we should be able to set a good time.
The first sprint stage for Jasper Philipsen will not come until stage 5, by which time the GC gaps will be too big for a sprinter to grab yellow, and without a climber, the opening days are likely the only time for Alpecin to wear yellow, which Van der Poel the obvious option.
However, whilst he clearly would like to wear yellow if the chance arises, Van der Poel was clear that he felt no external pressure to succeed at the Tour, so complete and impressive are his palmarès already.
"Everything is a bonus. Nothing is a must anymore. My career is already more than successful. That makes it really fun," he said.
"Of course, I still put pressure on myself, I want to win as many beautiful and big races as possible, but if that doesn't happen, I will be at peace with that too."
It may be hard to top last year, where Philipsen won stage 1 and Van der Poel stage 2 with the pair sharing yellow for most of the first week, but he can at least hope to finish the race rather than be taken out by illness in the final week. And if his recent form at the Tour de Suisse is anything to go by, where he very nearly beat Tadej Pogačar in a TT, he will arrive at the Tour strong and confident.
"Last year was very good, until I got pneumonia," Van der Poel said. "Hopefully, I can be in the same form at the start this year, go for stage wins, and show some great things."
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