Van der Poel makes rare emotional admission after ‘top three’ Paris victory

Mathieu van der Poel has built a career on producing extraordinary performances when races reach their most chaotic and demanding moments. Even by his standards, however, his victory on the final stage of the Tour de France in Paris required something different.

After the podium ceremonies and the celebrations had begun, Van der Poel admitted that the effort needed to stay clear of the chasing peloton may have taken him deeper than any previous performance in his career.

“I think everyone has seen before that I can go very deep in a finish,” Van der Poel told NOS. “I have said it a few times already, but this was maybe the deepest I have ever gone.”

The Alpecin-Premier Tech rider had attacked with Tadej Pogačar on the final ascent of Montmartre before the pair carried a narrow advantage towards the Champs Élysées.

With the sprinters closing rapidly behind them and Pogačar still alongside him, Van der Poel believed the move had run its course. Rather than surrender, he committed fully to one final effort.

“I actually thought it was over,” he said. “With 500 metres to go, I thought I had nothing left to lose. I put my head down and rode as hard as possible towards the finish.”

The victory adds another prestigious result to a palmarès that already includes world titles, victories at Milan-Sanremo, Paris Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, as well as stage wins at both the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia.

Van der Poel has often appeared almost unmoved by his own success, but there was no attempt to play down the importance of this one. Asked where the Paris victory ranked among the finest moments of his career, he initially placed it inside his top five before reconsidering.

“Definitely top five, maybe,” he said with a laugh. “Maybe even top three. I think it is one of my most beautiful victories.”

The presence of Pogačar at the front only added to the significance. Van der Poel described the Tour winner as “maybe the best rider ever” and praised the Slovenian for continuing to contribute to the attack, even as the sprinters’ teams closed the gap.

“That is also the champion Tadej is,” Van der Poel said. “He kept riding fully until the end. I think that is how we race, and he showed that again.”

For Van der Poel, the result was the fulfilment of an ambition that had taken shape twelve months earlier.

He was forced to leave the 2025 Tour with pneumonia and watched the Paris finale from home as his longtime rival Wout van Aert claimed victory after attacking on Montmartre.

Van der Poel immediately began imagining his own attempt on the stage.

“I had been thinking about it for a year,” he said. “Last year I was sick on the sofa and watched Wout win here. Right then, I thought that the following year I would put everything into winning this stage.”

That long build up helped explain an unusually emotional reaction from a rider who has already achieved almost everything the sport can offer.

“I do not get emotional that often anymore,” Van der Poel said. “But I was a little bit emotional today.”

The Paris finale may not carry the official status of a Monument, but for Van der Poel it represented one of the few major experiences still missing from his career. Winning it in this fashion, alongside Pogačar and with the peloton almost on his back wheel, made the achievement even more valuable.

“This was still somewhere near the top of my list,” he said. “Slowly, I have ticked off almost everything. I can only say that I am very proud and very happy.”