Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen will again combine once again at this year's Tour de France to create a dream team for the sprints and early hilly stages this July.
The pair's different talents and specialities give them a chance of success on virtually every stage from Saturday in Lille until the Pyrenees, with their sprint partnership having delivered 10 stage wins during the past four Tours.
Philipsen is a favourite to win the first stage in Lille and so take the first yellow jersey, while van der Poel could win stage 2 to Boulogne-sur-Mer, which includes two short, punchy climbs in the last 10km and an uphill finish.
Alpecin-Deceuninck have also selected Kaden Groves as an extra lead-out rider for Philipsen, but Van der Poel will still play a vital and prestigious lead-out role as he did in 2023 and 2024 when Philipsen won seven stages.
"I'm still aiming to help Jasper. With Kaden, we just have another rider, who can be useful in the train," Van der Poel explained on Thursday afternoon in the traditional big-rider press conference before the team presentation in Lille.
"That's especially helpful in the Tour de France, when you need every man you have to bring Jasper to the sprint in as best a position as possible. There are some opportunities in the first week.
"But, of course, there are a lot of different riders with different purposes too, so it'll be a hectic week. It's a nice opening week with a lot of chances for our team.
"We go for Jasper in the bunch sprints; he's already proved himself in the last few years. The more punchy stages we can play both cards, depending on how we feel."
Philipsen and Van der Poel sat side-by-side in the media event, seemingly in perfect coordination as they have been in recent editions of the Tour de France and numerous cobbled Classics.
They both want to win, but they are not rivals for the green jersey. Van der Poel won't fight in the sprint finishes and has ruled himself out of the points classification battle.. His stage rivals for the hilly finishes include Wout van Aert and GC contenders like Tadej Pogačar.
"The GC contenders who are really good in the Classics race will be up there," Van der Poel said without explicitly referring to his Classics rival Pogačar.
"They'll be fighting for position and bonus seconds too, so it will be hard, nervous racing, with a lot of riders who can win a stage like this one."
Philipsen admits 'yellow is an objective' on opening day
Philipsen has only won two sprints so far in 2025, but claimed he is now at his best. He is targeting the sprint in Lille and so the first yellow jersey of the Tour.
"The first stage will be a full bunch sprint, so it's more suited to me," Philisen said with the natural confidence of a sprinter.
"The second day and the Mûr-de-Bretagne stage suit Mathieu much more. I think stage 1 will be a pure bunch sprint. Everybody is looking for a bunch sprint at the start of the Tour.
"Yellow is an objective. This is probably the first time the yellow is possible for me. When the Tour started in Brussels in 2018, I was still young. This is a real first opportunity for me to take the yellow jersey. There won't be many in the future, so it's an important day on Saturday.
"I don't want to ruin my Tour if I don't win on Saturday. The Tour lasts 3 weeks and there are lots of opportunities to come, but Saturday is probably the nicest one."
While many of Philipsen's sprint rivals have racked up the wins this season, he only has two wins on his palmarès – at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and a recent stage at the Baloise Belgium Tour.
He has more podium places and regrets, notably losing out in the head-to-head battles with Belgian sprint rival Tim Merlier, but he's put his injury-hit spring behind him.
"I don't think I won much more last year, but the season has its ups and downs. It's not that I'm stressed about it," he said.
"I think I'm on track and my shape is good. I crashed in the Classics, but the last few weeks went well, I'm in my best shape possible, that's what counts, not the previous wins."
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