I guess it may come down to the fact that through supporting JP he missed chances for points in stage 1.
He'd need to contest and finish well in all the remaining flat stage intermediate and final sprints - and pick up points where Milan and Birmay will be out of contention.
there are some intermediate sprints with hills before them where even a steady pace will drop milan but mvdp can hang-on to contest
over to you Alpecin-Deceuninck
We will know tomorrow and sunday if MVDP goes for green.
With JP gone I do not understand if he doesn't try.
Then again, to me it's clear that MVDP isn't made or trained enough for these GT's, he goes into these stages like one day classics and is cooked (he himself states this).
MVDP won 2 stages in the tour, had the yellow jersey several days... I think its time for him to skip the tour next years. Focus on the classical do his MTB thing properly instead of tour or focus on. World Championship if suitable course comes along.
I even think he can better focus fully on Liege and stuff then the Tour.