Teams
Looking for: Stage wins, stage wins, and more stage wins
Tour riders
l Silvan Dillier (Sui) 33
l Robbe Ghys (Bel) 27
l Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) 29
l Axel Laurance (Fra) 23
l Jasper Philipsen (Bel) 26
l Jonas Rickaert (Bel) 30
l Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) 29
l Gianni Vermeersch (Bel) 33
Tour 2023 highlights
l Four stage wins for Jasper Philipsen
l Green jersey win for Philipsen
l 18 stages in the green jersey for Philipsen
It is not unfair to say that Alpecin-Deceuninck is a team of two superstars accompanied around France by six not particularly well-known riders. And when it comes to superstars, they don’t come much bigger than world champion Mathieu van der Poel and last year’s green jersey winner Jasper Philipsen. While other teams have split strategies, hoping to win sprints and challenge on GC, Alpecin are all-in for stage wins.
Both Van der Poel and Philipsen have been on carefully tailored programmes to deliver them to the Tour de France in top form. The former last raced at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, since when he has been training at altitude, while Philipsen tested his legs at the Belgium Tour (12-16 June) after last racing at Paris-Roubaix.
“I leave a week later than the rest of our Tour squad on altitude training to La Plagne,” Van der Poel explained last month. “After that, I’ll work through some individual training sessions until the start of the Tour in Florence. In the meantime, we have gained enough experience to know that once in competition, I quickly find my form.”
As for his Tour goals: “I hope to assist team-mate Jasper Philipsen again in his hunt for stage wins and a possible green jersey. And the goal is to win a stage myself this year. Last year I got si
