Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) may have already worn the Tour de France yellow jersey six times and taken a brilliant win on the race, but he says the French Grand Tour has now obvious appeal for him as the potential rewards are too mixed.
The 29-year-old Dutch rider has competed in the Tour four times, with his victory on stage 2 in 2021 - where he also took yellow for the next six days - the only win he has taken from the race to date.
And though the Tour is the centre of the season for many riders and their teams, Van der Poel has mostly been used as a lead-out man for team mate Jasper Philipsen, rather than emerging as a dominant figure himself on the race in recent years.
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"It's a race that I don't really like," Van der Poel told Sporza of an event best suited to GC riders, pure sprinters or breakaway men, none of the categories he falls into.
"Apart from trying to win stages and wear the yellow jersey, there's not much to gain for me in the Tour. I'd rather ride five races in which I'm competing to win than 20 stages in which I'm not competing for the win half the time.
"With Jasper there, my goal is always to help him win as many stages as possible. I like that and it also takes the pressure off me."
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More immediately, Van der Poel said his two big goals in the first phase of the season are Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix. Though he has won Flanders three times - and Paris-Roubaix twice - Van der Poel said it will be hard to beat Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in Flanders this year.
"But it is a challenge that I am happy to accept," he said. "We are thinking about how we can close the gap on Pogacar. Because that will be necessary to beat him in the Ronde.
"Perhaps that can be done by slightly different and more difficult training. That is why I am skipping the World Cup cross in Benidorm, for example, because a training camp in that same period will make me better towards the spring."
He also said he would like to become MTB XC world champion this year and was thinking of riding MTB at what would be his last OIympics in Los Angeles in 2028, when he would be aged 34 years.
He said it was important for riders to know when to stop and to go out on a high, or when they were satisfied, rather than continue on and perhaps diminish their big achievements from the best years of their career.
Having signed with Alpecin-Deceuninck until the end of the 2028 season, and a ten-year deal with their bike supplier Canyon, Van der Poel said he was happy where he was, even though bigger rewards may have been on offer elsewhere.
"I am sure that I am paid what I deserve at Alpecin-Deceuninck. Although it is true that I could have earned a bit more at another place," he said.
"The people from the team have become my friends and family. I also owe a lot to Christoph and Philip Roodhooft. These are things that I take with me to contract negotiations."
