Adrie van der Poel is looking for explanations for Mathieu’s lesser form: “You can see from his heartbeats that he still has some form of freshness”

Adrie van der Poel does not have a lot of contact with his son during a big round. “It’s not because things are going less well now that I have to call, because if things go well I won’t. We’ll send some messages and stuff,” said Adrie before the start of the Tour stage in Binche on Thursday.

Van der Poel finished fifth in the opening time trial, but was not satisfied with his performance even then. “No, because his wattages were far from what he normally kicks in those kinds of rides,” said Adrie. “He did send me: ok, it wasn’t great but luckily it was wet and I could ride a lot on my technique† In retrospect, that turns out to be a fair explanation. Then you can of course always rely on the fact that you haven’t raced for five weeks. But after two or three days you should already feel that things are getting better and I didn’t have that impression.”

“Perhaps he also started thinking that he did not have to be there during the first three days, which was the case last year,” continues father Van der Poel. “Then you leave for the Tour with a different mentality. There were a little bit of ambition for the yellow jersey, but much less than last year. Which I think was right. Provided good legs it would have been possible. There have been opportunities for him in recent days. I think a good Mathieu would really participate and not be far from it, but a less good Mathieu is also just forced to ride along.”

Period after Giro not optimal

What could be his son’s lesser form? “I don’t think the week of rest after the Giro has been optimal. I would rather have turned it around: first cycle for another week with nice distances, then rest for a day or three and then start again,” says Van der Poel. “That body is used to suffering for three weeks and living in a certain rhythm. I think you should gradually reduce it rather than stop it abruptly.”

“He didn’t take a real holiday that first week after the Giro, he did take an hour-long coffee ride. But that is not in proportion to five to six hours of suffering, of course. But in the end… These days they have so much data, they probably assumed it was going to be okay. It doesn’t matter that it takes a little longer, but it just doesn’t work. What you should also not forget: the Giro is not a Tour, hey. In the Giro you have some good riders, here you have a lot of good riders. There is already a difference in that.”

Is Van der Poel someone who is now walking around ‘pissed off’? “Yes of course. If you are used to always participating and setting course on your terrain… From today (yesterday, ed.) comes the opportunities for the breakaways that can last a very long time. If you can’t participate, that’s a shame.”

Great heart rate

Can he still make it through this Tour? “Yes, it is possible”, thinks Van der Poel. “I do look at his heart rates and they are relatively low when he is just in the pack. So that’s not necessarily a bad sign. His maximum pulse is also still quite high. You should discuss that with the specialist of the team, but for me those are things that show that things can go either way. And then it remains to be hoped that things will go in the right direction.”

“If your average heart rate is only 120 over such a ride… I’m not making it up, you can check it for yourself on Strava. He puts everything there. On Wednesday his average pulse was 144 and his maximum 194 so I think he has some form of freshness.”

Listen to our podcast and the full story of Adrie van der Poel here:

PODCAST TOUR.How big is the contrast between Wout & Mathieu? “Van der Poel stopped too abruptly after the Giro. You see the result now”