Mathieu Van der Poel: "I'd have had to have extraordinary legs"

June 10 ^th 2025 - 17:39

"This morning we thought the breakaway would have a chance, and that's what happened despite having Florian Lipowitz in our group. I took a gamble on this stage, but it was difficult to win. There were a lot of us in the finale and each time it was up to me to react to the acceleration, but that's normal after all. So I responded to the attacks several times, but it wasn't enough.

To succeed in this kind of scenario, I'd have had to have extraordinary legs. But with everything I'd given up just to stay in the breakaway, that wasn't the case any more.

All in all, I've got three good results, but I'd have preferred to win just one and finish a long way back on the others. In any case, these first few days have been very positive, and what I'm looking for here in terms of sensations is impossible to find in training.”