Theoretical physicist Albert Einstein once said: “Order is needed by the ignorant but it takes a genius to master chaos.”
It’s a quote which can be applied to many different situations in life, but today, we can apply it to professional bike racing. During the opening stage of the 2025 Tour de France, Alpecin-Deceuninck were the geniuses. On a day which was primed for the type of bedlam that only the Tour can create, expectations were duly met. Crashes, crosswinds and carnage wreaked havoc on any sense of possible order and many who fell victim to the madness will want to put this day behind them. Alpecin, on the other hand, will never forget it. They were born to race like this.
“This was very much like a Classic and nervous all day, we can do that as a team,” Mathieu van der Poel grinned a few moments after his teammate, Jasper Philipsen, had sprinted to the stage victory and yellow jersey. “We had an idea of how we wanted to do it, but this situation made it a little easier to execute. Luckily we had the right guys with us."
The crucial moment came with 17 kilometres of racing remaining, when the elastic in the peloton snapped under pressure in the crosswinds. While riders were dropped quickly from the back of the bunch, Alpecin had five riders on the right side of the split. The stage had been raced at an average of 42kmph until that point and there was scarcely a minute without drama, but the Belgian squad remarkably kept their cool, in a way which only they will truly understand. This was a lesson in how to win a bike race.
“We knew crosswinds could happen, but we didn't know when exactly, we just knew we had to be in front and stay focused and attentive all day,” stage winner and race leader Philipsen commented after his victory. “I think that’s what the guys did, they really put us in a good position and protected us very well. We then were with the guys that were needed for the leadout in the final in the echelons and everyone was on a really strong level, it was definitely a team effort, a team job.”
The strength of Alpecin’s performance is only highlighted by the failures of others. Biniam Girmay of Intermarche-Wanty, for example, who finished in second place on the stage told media afterwards that part of the reason he couldn't challenge Philipsen more closely was because he “had to use a lot of energy” to hold position in the front group after being the only one from his team to make the crucial split. Remco Evenepoel of Soudal-Quick Step gave away valuable time on the general classification for, as he admitted, being “sleepy” when it mattered. Brothers Adam and Simon Yates lost a collective total of over ten minutes on the opening stage. As others complained about the complications of the day, Alpecin team boss, Christoph Roodhooft, smiled that his team found it even simpler than they had anticipated.
“We were there all day trying to save energy while staying where we had to be all the time. When the split came, Visma and Uno-X were also there with us and we had five riders, it was done for everybody else,” he commented. “Our team was strong there at the right moment and we knew what we had to do in the final. It was easier than we thought in advance.”
Today’s stage was not won by the teams who were afraid of the chaos, but by the ones who threw themselves head first into it. Alpecin’s line-up for this Tour is largely made up of riders who have learned their trade on the narrow roads, cobbles and corners of Belgium – we saw them thrive during the Classics earlier this year because of this, and the craziness of the opening week of the Tour is suiting them too. This will instil a sense of fear in the rest of the peloton because there are plenty of days like this still to come as the week rumbles on. Alpecin-Deceuninck schooled their rivals today. If others want to beat them, they too need to learn how to find order in the disorder.
“We haven’t checked too much on the second stage yet, we focused on today and tomorrow is a new day,” Philipsen grinned in his post-race press conference.
“We haven’t had the chance to look too into it but I’m going to for sure enjoy it and give everything. We always aim for the highest chances of victory. If it’s through me or Mathieu then we’ll have to see tomorrow. There’s a lot of nice opportunities coming for the team and for Mathieu especially. Let’s see what happens.”
