Alpecin-Fenix team manager Christoph Roodhooft has explained that the Belgian workforce led by Mathieu van der Poel will go to the Tour de France with its aim quite substantially on the race’s opening week.
Speaking at the ongoing Étoile de Bessèges, which arrives to a conclusion on Sunday afternoon, Roodhooft reported that their initial Tour appearance will be a major step for the workforce.
“We’ll see how it goes in the first 7 days. It is a significant journey for all of us,” he explained to Cyclingnews. “We’ll go into the race focussed just on the 1st 7 days, and then we’ll see what transpires immediately after that.
“We really don’t have the identical degree of group as Jumbo-Visma so for us it will be a totally diverse method. We’ll decide on the days that we assume will particularly go well with us right before the Tour, but we will not go there with any ambitions for the general classification.”
Like his staff, who experienced for WorldTour invites right after topping the Europe Tour rankings in 2020, Van der Poel is also set to race at the Tour for the initially time. Expectations will be high, not only as a end result of his prestigious road victories together with last year’s Tour of Flanders, but also many thanks to his long-standing rivalry with Wout van Aert, who has received three stages in his two Tour outings.
“Wout Van Aert shocked everybody final calendar year, so of program it’s potentially pure that we’ll be expecting Mathieu to deliver one thing, but perhaps it won’t be the exact same,” said Roodhooft. “I believe that Wout van Aert has acquired a far better time demo in his legs, but we shall see. Almost everything is possible.”
The Alpecin boss included that the Belgian team will be crafted absolutely all around its Dutch chief. The opening week of the Tour includes with a hilly working day in Brittany, a hilltop end on Mûr-de-Bretagne, as well as two dash stages, every single of which must be properly-suited to Van der Poel.
“At the leading level, there are large amount of groups developed all around riders like Peter Sagan, teams where by it does all rely to a massive extent on just one or probably two fellas who can make a big difference. I consider that is pretty typical,” reported Roodhooft.
Roodhooft confirmed that Van der Poel will make his 2021 debut on the highway at the UAE Tour later this month.
“From there his concentrate will be on Flanders and Roubaix,” he reported. “He’s demonstrated already what he can do, so he’ll go to start with for the spring Classics, then switch to mountain biking, and then he’ll concentration on the Tour de France, and we’ll see how it goes,” explained the Alpecin manager, who included that the workforce also experienced another crucial goal to aim on.
“At the exact same time, we also want to acquire the Europe Tour once again, so that we can continue to keep our spot in the most important races. The whole team will have to lead to that, due to the fact that is not anything that Mathieu can do his have, despite the fact that he will hopefully enjoy his portion. But that is a essential intention for the crew far too.”