Proud Van der Poel cedes Tour de France yellow with an eye on the green jersey
After losing time on the Mûr de Bretagne and slipping out of the overall lead Van der Poel will recover before a possible search for the green jersey
Mathieu van der Poel might have had a good run in the yellow jersey this year, but it’s likely his time in the maillot jaune is over, at least for 2025.
The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider first took the race lead when he won stage two in Boulogne-sur-Mer after team mate Jasper Philipsen claimed it on day one. He wore the jersey for three days, until Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) won the day four time trial in Caen, but retook it after his day in the breakaway on stage six, though only by a meagre one second
On Friday, though, that day off the front took its toll, and he only managed 22nd place, finishing 1:22 down on Pogačar, putting him fifth overall, some 1:29 behind the lead.
“I was quite sure I would lose the jersey today, so I tried to enjoy it as much as possible,” Van der Poel said at the finish. The finish at Mûr de Bretagne might have been where he lost yellow on Friday, but it was also the scene of his first Tour stage victory, when he first wore yellow in 2021.
“Coming back here to Mûr de Bretagne it’s quite special wearing the yellow jersey after four years. The first time [up the climb] I was almost dropped already and I was thinking by myself what I thought the other time, when I attacked here first time. Time changes but I think I can be very proud on this first week.”
Though we should never rule anything out with Van der Poel, there now seems very little chance for him to even try to reclaim yellow. The weekend’s stages provide a good chance for the sprinter’s teams and after Monday’s rest day, the race heads to the mountains, terrain not entirely suited to his physiology.
The team came to France with their eye on Philipsen winning the points classification, indeed he was wearing the green jersey when he crashed out on stage three, that ambition is apparently now Van der Poel’s.
"We will see. Today I tried to be there, but today was an all out effort to get any points, and then I tired to focus a bit on the last climb. First I will try to recover a bit from the last few days.”
