The shackles are off. Mathieu Van der Poel, who raced more cautiously than ever in the spring classics to recover from injury, already seems to be back to his default setting in the Giro d'Italia. After winning the Tour of Flanders with a more cautious approach against Tadej Pogacar, van der Poel is back to his old all-action style for this Giro.

"My preparation for the Classic was good, but it didn't go the way I wanted it to, so I had to race a little smarter," he said. But I like to race instinctively if I can, and that's what I plan to do in weeks two and three."

Already aggressive in the tough early stages to Potenza on stage 7, the Dutchman went on the offensive in the breathless early stages around Naples the next day. The onslaught was bordering on the reckless, but Van der Pol hardly let up in the afternoon. He had to settle for seventh place when he passed Caracciolo Street, but he insisted that he had no regrets about his sparing efforts.

"What was a little disappointing was that I didn't have any teammates in this group. 'We talked about it as a team afterwards,' he said. Sure, it was a missed opportunity for me and for the team, but I don't regret it. But I don't regret it. I like this kind of racing. It wasn't the result I wanted, it wasn't the result the team wanted, but I have no regrets."

Van der Pol's disappointment was evident later that afternoon on the Naples waterfront, when he appeared to issue a cryptic criticism of Biniam Guillemay (Intermarché Wanty-Gaubert) after the stage. In response to a headline quoting Gilmey as saying, "Everyone was looking at Mathieu and me," Van der Pol tweeted a laughing emoji. On Monday, however, he dismissed the notion that he was frustrated by being heavily marked by the breakaway group.

"Sure, they have the right to react. I was one of the favorites that day, so it makes sense that they would react if I went," van der Pol said. But if you only react to one person and the rest of the group goes, you don't win the race. But it's kind of a difficult situation, so having a teammate would have made a big difference."

Into the Marche

During the rest day press conference, it was confirmed that the Alpecin Phoenix team, led by Van der Pol, will be aiming for World Tour status starting in 2023. Van der Pol will, of course, be at the center of Alpecin's July plans, but he reiterated his intention to go the distance in this Giro and finish a Grand Tour for the first time.

"Last year was a strange year with the Corona situation and the Olympics," said van der Poel, who abandoned the Tour after spending most of the opening week in yellow. It was difficult to juggle the Tour and the Olympics on a mountain bike."

Like the Tour, Van der Pol got off to a good start in this Giro, winning the opening stage and defending his Maria Rosa with an impressive second place in the time trial in Budapest the following afternoon. He will get an opportunity to shine even more in the second week, which has few high mountains.

Tuesday's hilly course from Pescara to Jesi on the Adriatic coast takes the Giro into Van der Pol country.

In fact, Van der Pol already has two wins on the Tirreno-Adriatico marque. He won in Loreto in 2020 and had a remarkable solo run in Castelfidardo last year, but in the process he got too close to the sun and was almost caught by Pogacar in the last.

"I've never been to the second or third week of a Grand Tour, but it changes the style of racing a bit, and sometimes you get a chance from a big breakaway," van der Pol said. I think tomorrow's stage has a lot of potential."

The second week is broken up by two days for the sprinters: stage 11, Reggio Emilia, and stage 13, Cuneo. Teammate Jakub Maleczko has already left the Giro, and van der Pol said he has no intention of joining the fray. "Maybe in week three, but for now I'll try to pick stages where the race is a little bit harder," he said. I don't really like pure group sprints."