Mathieu Van Der Pol was key to Alpecin-Desseuninck's success in the first week of the Tour de France, leading out unbeaten in all three of Yasper Philipsen's stage wins. The point haul gives Philipsen a 110-point lead in the battle for the green jersey.

On their first rest day in Clermont-Ferrand, Van der Pol and Philipsen reflected on what had been a better-than-expected Tour opening for the Dutch-speaking media.

For Van der Pol, the last man standing this year for Philipsen, and for his team, the race is already a success, and Van der Pol, who sacrificed nine days of opportunities, may have a chance to claim his second stage win.

"Tomorrow and Thursday's stages look good on paper, but it is always difficult to predict whether it will be a breakaway group or a thin peloton," van der Pol said in a Sporza report.

Van der Pol has no regrets about giving up his chance to win in the first week. 'Of course I want to win too. If I had been part of the sprint, I would have almost made it to the finish line.

Van der Pol was not scheduled to be Philipsen's last man this year; Jonas Lickert usually takes that role, but Lickert was not on the team for Tirreno-Adriatico.

"At first the order was reversed and I went before Ramon Sinkeldam," Van der Pol explained. On the stage to Follonica, Fabio Jacobsen beat Philipsen. But a day later I proposed to turn it around and put me in last place."

Two stage wins with Van der Poel as last man in Tirreno-Adriatico were enough for the team to roll out a new train for the Tour de France.

"It's an easy role for me. I trust Jonas blindly and, in fact, he makes my job easy," van der Pol said.

The Tour de France route is clearly tougher this week, with only one stage for Philipsen. Tuesday's stage to Issoire features five mountains, the last of which is 31 km from the finish. Wednesday will be a flat stage followed by a short, steep climb with 29km to go. The race then heads back into the high mountains.

Philipsen's lead makes him the frontrunner to take the green jersey in Paris, but he will not rest on his laurels.

"We have to remain critical. I don't think everything will be easy," Philipsen said.

"We are in a good position, but we still have a long way to go."

This week, he faces a battle mainly for intermediate sprint points. Even the flat stage to Moulin has a climb before the intermediate sprint.

"When my rivals get points, I can't let them get away with it," he said. In the coming stages, it will be hard to score many points in the intermediate sprints."

"The Moulin area on Wednesday may be my only chance to succeed in the sprint next week. That's where I'm focused right now."