<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can skip everything,\u201d he said firmly. \u201cLook, if you have to go to the Tour and there are absolutely zero opportunities for that type of rider, then you have to think seriously about it. But I think there are definitely some chances in this Tour. Not chances like last year, but certainly opportunities to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Van Aert thinks he can win on Montjuic…\u201d<\/p>\n
One of those chances could come early. The opening phase of the Tour is not built only around bunch sprints, and Adrie sees no reason why Mathieu should be ruled out on punchier terrain if others are being backed for the same roads. \u201cIf Van Aert thinks he can win on Montjuic, then Mathieu should be able to as well,\u201d said Adrie.<\/p>\n
That confidence is partly rooted in what he has already watched Mathieu do across his career. Even Adrie admits there have been races where his son has gone beyond what looked realistic. \u201cI have seen Mathieu do things in the past where I thought: that is not within his capabilities,\u201d he admitted. \u201cAnd then he wins that race anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
Van der Poel arrives at the Tour after a strong but imperfect 2026 campaign. He has won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, E3 Saxo Classic and two stages of Tirreno-Adriatico, finished second at the Tour of Flanders behind Tadej Pogacar, and placed fourth at Paris-Roubaix after mechanical problems damaged his pursuit of another cobbled Monument victory.<\/p>\n
Adrie dismisses calls for Mathieu to race passively<\/p>\n
Adrie also pushed back against the idea that Mathieu should simply stay in the wheel of a favourite deep into a finale. Asked how he watches his son race, he admitted that family still comes before analysis. \u201cThe analyst only comes later,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is the easiest thing there is: saying what riders did right and wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was blunter about outside criticism of Mathieu\u2019s racing instincts. \u201cThat is criticism from people who don\u2019t understand racing,\u201d Adrie said. \u201cThose guys just have to race. Then we\u2019ll see who is the strongest. When people say he should just stay in the wheel, I think he thinks: get lost. And I completely agree with him on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adrie also rejected the idea that Mathieu\u2019s relaxed image away from competition tells the full story. \u201cPeople have no idea,\u201d he said. \u201cThey see him stop for a slice of apple pie and a coffee on Instagram. But he says himself that he sometimes suffers more in training than in the race.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Alpecin-Premier Tech, the balance at the Tour will be delicate. Philipsen remains one of the team\u2019s clearest routes to stage success, but Adrie\u2019s view leaves room for Mathieu to chase his own openings, especially on days where the finale is too hard for a pure sprinter and too chaotic for anyone waiting politely in the wheels.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cYou can skip everything,\u201d he said firmly. \u201cLook, if you have to go to the Tour and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[117803,143965,4985,99800,101,6549,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-667461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-adrie-van-der-poel","tag-alpecin-premier-tech","tag-cycling","tag-mathieu-van-der-poel","tag-sports","tag-tour-de-france","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}