From one Grand Tour to another, 2022 Giro d'Italia finisher Mathieu Van der Pol (Alpecin Phoenix) has announced that he will be leaving the race before a repeat ride in the Tour de France.

Van der Pol, winner of the opening stage of the Giro d'Italia and the race leader for three days, finished his first Grand Tour in 57th place overall. However, the GC standings hardly tell the full story of the Giro behind the high-profile Dutchman's success over the past three and a half weeks.

Not only did he have an unsuccessful sprint match with Biniam Guillemay (Intermarché Wanty-Gaubert Materieux) on stage 10, but the 27-year-old was involved in no fewer than five breaks in the final two-thirds of the race. The ultra-talented racer from Alpecin-Phoenix finished third in the time trial on the final day.

However, Van der Pol told journalists in Verona on Sunday evening that he has no intention of going for GC in such a race in the future, nor before the start of the Tour de France in Copenhagen, a little over a month from Verona. He has no intention of racing.

"I made a mistake in the braking and the sprint with Gil May was close. But I've had a great experience in this Giro and I'm really happy.

"The only reason I'm in Livigno is for the high altitude camp, just training before the Tour," Van der Pol told reporters. He won a stage last July and wore the maillot jaune early in last year's Tour. He denied that he would repeat his road race victory at the 2020 Dutch championships, saying, "I'm in better shape than I expected after three weeks of racing.

Van der Pol, who finished the Giro as promised, said that although he missed out on a second stage victory, his success rate and standout performance were such that he left with a sense of mission accomplished.

"Certainly, I came here with a big goal: the pink jersey. Of course, I was aiming for a second stage win, but I think I can be happy with my race."

"I'm very happy with the way I raced," he said.

Van der Pol, who abandoned the Tour de France last summer, discovered in his second and first Grand Tour across the Alps, which he completed, that the Giro is, as he puts it, "a more relaxed event and less stressful. It's fun to race."

"There were some special moments. I will remember them for a long time, especially in Fedeia [stage 20].

Van der Pol took time to praise his young Italian teammate Stefano Aldani for his breakthrough stage win, one of three stage victories earned by Alpecin Phoenix. However, judging by the loud cheers he receives at the start and finish of the Giro, he said he did not know why Van der Pol had been adopted by the local tifosi as one of their own.

In the final chapter of jokes exchanged on social media during the Giro, he was presented with a "Hawaiian pizza" with pineapple by a fan in Verona after the final stage. Pineapple is one of his favorite toppings, and many Italians consider it an unorthodox foreign topping. But it seems that van der Pol can do no wrong in Italy.

In any case, his thoughts now turn to the summer and the Tour, but despite several successful mountain escapes in the final week of the Giro, van der Pol said he is not thinking about fighting for GC in the Grand Tour.

"No, I don't really plan to do it. I prefer the classics and one-day races," he said emphatically.

As for his elusive second win in the Giro, rather than analyze a specific break, which he might have done differently, Van der Pol smoothed everything over by saying: "It's always difficult for sure. The sprint with Gil May was also close. But it was a great experience and I'm really happy with this Giro."