Mathieu van der Poel will team up with Jasper Philipsen at the Tour de France, targeting the opening weekend in Barcelona and hillier stages.
What are their goals?
Van der Poel and Philipsen have created a strong combination at Alpecin-Premier Tech, with Philipsen aiming for sprint stages and the green points jersey.
Philipsen joked that they have never had a fight, and their capabilities match well.
How do they plan to achieve their goals?
Van der Poel will focus on the hillier stages, while Philipsen waits for stage 5 to Pau for his first big sprint chance.
They hope to have a successful Tour, both for themselves and their team, after last year's Tour started well but ended in disappointment.
What happened last year?
Philipsen won stage 1 in Lille, and Van der Poel won stage 2, but Philipsen crashed out on stage 3, and Van der Poel abandoned the Tour due to pneumonia.
Van der Poel has had some good and bad Tours, but he likes the stages that are like Classics.
Alpecin-Premier Tech recently trained for the Tour de France team time trial on the motor racing circuit in Zolder, Belgium.
Van der Poel went close to beating Tadej Pogačar in the Tour de Suisse time trial and will try to produce a similar performance.
What comes next?
Van der Poel seems ready to fight with the GC riders on the hilly stage 2 circuits of Montjuïc, but fears Pogačar and Evenepoel.
Philipsen believes there are five or six possible sprint stages, including the final stage to Paris, despite the new Montmartre circuit.
He thinks the sprinters will always be motivated to ride to Paris, and the Montmartre finish is still a chance for a sprint finish.
Van der Poel and Philipsen will try to win as many stages as possible, with their first chances coming on the opening weekend in Barcelona.