Running his 25th and final Grand Tour in the Tour de France, Belgian champion Philippe Gilbert (Lotto Soudal) will revisit some of his most memorable scenes of success this week.

But, as much as it must stir nostalgia, when it comes to the possibility of a final victory this July, Gilbert, who turned 40 on Tuesday, is resolutely keeping both feet on the ground.

Dunkerque is where the Belgian, who has been away from victory for two years, took his most recent win this May, and on Wednesday, Gilbert will also hit many of the same pavé sectors he traversed to take one of his greatest wins in the 2019 Paris-Roubaix Classic.

However, as the oldest rider in this year's Tour peloton recently told La Voie du Nord, while the chances for a stage win still exist in this year's race, they are diminishing.

"I have thought about coming to Dunkerque during the Tour. I didn't know the roads today, but I have some information and good memories."

"I've had a lot of setbacks this year, partly due to my age, but I knew I could win again in Dunkerque and give my teammates some confidence.

"But it's tough in the Tour. It would be a lie to say the same thing to my teammates here: I don't want to do anything stupid."

Later, on French television, Gilbert paid tribute to compatriot and stage 4 winner Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma), saying of his fellow Belgian, "He had a brilliant position [on the climb he attacked] and the tailwind helped.

He took a similarly comprehensive view of the Tour's start in Denmark in La Voix du Nord, denouncing the two mass start stages as "monotonous" and "close to zero" on a sporting level, but he immediately added that a crosswind would have changed that and qualified it.

Gilbert praised the great support the Danish riders received locally. In that sense, Gilbert said, it was similar to the start of the 2007 Tour de France in London.

"The peloton is very tired," he said.

"But in terms of the general crowd, I would give it a 10 out of 10.

"There are a lot of great riders in Denmark and it was really nice to see them getting a lot of cheers. [Jonas] Vingegaard was cheered every 50 seconds."

He offered a similarly balanced opinion of the upcoming pavestage, noting that while it is popular from a public spectacle standpoint, it may have a significant negative impact on the GC contention.

"Up to a point, fine. Even ASO would be disappointed if (Tadei) Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) fell in the pavé," he reasoned. That could happen anywhere."

"Paris-Roubaix riders know how to race in the Pavé. In the Tour, there are a lot of riders with no technique or light weight. So that's debatable, but it's just that so far the Tour has provided a lot of spectacle and that's what they want."

As for the possibility of his own participation in the spectacle, Gilbert was cautious.

"My goal is to win with Caleb [Yuan], but it hasn't worked out yet. But realistically, it's going to be tough for me. So I'm going to use my experience and maybe I can break through. But physically it's going to be tough."

It's not just the challenges in that field. Gilbert recognized that the pressure on teams in the Tour is much greater than in other races, and that success is measured by a different metric: "Some teams are satisfied with a sixth place in a group sprint," he told La Voix du Nord. What other race would you be satisfied with a top 10 finish?