Mathieu van der Poel arrives at the Tour de France ready to be more than Jasper Philipsen’s delivery boy

P.Perhaps the most memorable image of the cycling season so far is that of Mathieu van der Poel standing at the finish line of the Tour of Flanders with mud splattered on his crisp white world champion jersey , raising his bike to the sky as an offering to the gods. . Here was a rider so utterly dominant in a world-class peloton that he had time to get off for showmanship, and somehow with the strength to lift his bike like paper afterwards such a brutal race.

It turned out to be his last drop of energy.

“It’s one of the hardest races I’ve ever done,” Van der Poel said. He was asked if he could repeat the feat at Paris-Roubaix a week later. “I can’t think about Roubaix yet. I’m really, really f****d. »

He would go on to complete the double in equally emphatic style, becoming only the third man this century to win Flanders and Roubaix in the same year. Only nine men in the history of the sport have won more than his six Monument races and, at 29, he has plenty of time to climb the list.

“It now seems obvious that I am capable of winning another one, but you never know what happens in cycling, of course, in case of injury or…” says Van der Poel The IndependentHe wonders what could stop him, but he can’t think of much. “We only get one chance a year to win each Monument, but I think I’ve got a few more in me. So we’ll see where I can end up.”

Both races were won thanks to typically aggressive solo attacks that obliterated the peloton. Van der Poel is a master at this, he knows how to feel the moment – ​​the conditions, the weather, the distance, the feeling in his legs, the look in his rival’s eyes – and know when to go for it.

“It’s more of an art than a science,” he says. “I never really plan my attacks. I always rely on how I feel and how the race is going. It’s just a matter of instinct to choose my moment, to feel the race a little bit, and I think that’s one of my strengths. Then you just have to go head on and go as fast as you can. »

The Tour de France is fast approaching and, for one of the greatest one-day riders of all time and a multi-discipline world champion, his record is strangely empty. Van der Poel has only won one Tour stage in three years.

There are some major caveats. He picked up plenty of help along the way, delivering teammate Jasper Philipsen to the sprint finish on a silver platter while looking so composed that you might think he could have won himself if he had tried. Photos show Philipsen celebrating while in the background, a bit out of focus, is Van der Poel, gliding across the line without breaking a sweat.

Grand tours are a team sport and Van der Poel is a committed team player, sometimes playing the role of luxury sidekick, like the world’s highest-paid delivery man. And yet, he is a sporting demigod who has left little mark in the history books of the greatest race in history. Doesn’t that bother him?

“Yes of course. I would love to win a second one. But it’s getting really difficult. course (the course) is getting more and more difficult so the chances are really limited in the Tour de France. There are also many riders capable of winning a stage but the objective is to try to win a second stage.

He arrived at previous Tours with one eye on the Olympics or the World Championships, and has already left the race earlier than planned twice to prepare. This year will be different: Van der Poel is determined to complete the Tour in its entirety, so much so that he has opted out of this summer’s Olympic mountain bike race, scheduled just eight days after the Tour ends. . He would have been favorite for gold.

Illness and lack of freshness also played a part in Van der Poel’s incomplete Tour de France story, but this time he feels sharp. Remarkably, the Tour’s first stage – which begins in Florence – will be only its eighth day of racing of the year, and it’s the kind of bumpy, hard course that it’s easy to imagine it crashing to get through. take the yellow jersey. .

The gravel roads of stage nine also seem perfectly suited to his skills, but Van der Poel has not planned his attacking moments. “You never know which stages you will feel good on or when there will be an opportunity, and you never know how they will ride that stage either. So you have to be open-minded to seize the opportunity when it presents itself.”

Her relationship with Philipsen is one of the key storylines in the second series of the popular Netflix series. Tour de France: Unleashed. The duo is presented as the athletes of the peloton, bad boys who care neither about accidents, nor the rules, nor the fines. This is an embellishment of the truth, even though they undoubtedly share a ruthless side.

“It’s fun,” Van der Poel says of their partnership. “He’s very focused before his sprints, of course, which is a good thing, but for the rest he’s just a relaxed guy and he doesn’t get too worked up.”

Van der Poel will not watch the new series. “I didn’t watch the first series so I don’t think I’ll watch the second,” he laughs. “That’s one of the reasons I don’t watch it, of course. I saw that in Formula 1 there are also drivers who don’t really like the way they came out of the series. Of course, they tried to create drama and create characters.

Van der Poel made headlines this spring when he signed a 10-year contract with Canyon. Lucrative partnerships between famous brands and star riders are increasingly common in the peloton, although Van der Poel’s deal is by far the longest and most eye-catching.

At the same time, he signed a five-year contract with his team, Alpecin-Deceuninck. This contract, combined with the composition of his Canyon contract – five years as a driver, five as an ambassador – indicates a plan to retire at the age of 34.

“(Canyon) has been a part of the journey I’ve been on and I’ve always been really happy with bikes so it was a pretty easy decision. With the ambassador role as well, I won’t be riding for another 10 years but I would love to still be an ambassador for such a great brand when I retire.”

Long-term sponsorship deals aren’t always easy at the top level, as riders tend to move freely between different teams working with different manufacturers. But Van der Poel has spent his entire career with Belgium-based Alpecin-Deceuninck and is looking to see out his days there.

It’s easy to see why Canyon would want Van der Poel to be its face, when he raises his bike above his head like a trophy at the finish line in Flanders. Google searches and sales of the bike he rides increased after his major victories. Now, after three years of illness, distraction and service to others, Van der Poel is ready to build his own brand on the Tour de France.