Mathieu van der Poel was disappointed with his lost duel with Tadej Pogacar in the fourth stage of the Tour de France. The Dutchman narrowly had to bow his head to the world champion in the sprint.
Van der Poel couldn’t follow Pogacar and his challenger Jonas Vingegaard on the steep final hill, but he rejoined the two big favorites for the overall victory a few kilometers before the finish. He then sprinted for the stage victory in a group of seven riders.
In that sprint, Van der Poel took the lead, but in the final meters Pogacar proved too strong. “I noticed that my legs didn’t want to anymore,” said Van der Poel, who did beat Pogacar on Sunday, afterwards. The yellow jersey wearer was so exhausted after the finish that he couldn’t talk to journalists right away.
After the podium ceremony, Van der Poel already had some color in his cheeks again, but his mood still suffered from the defeat. “I’m a bit disappointed, because I would have loved to win in the yellow jersey. You always want more in life. But Tadej was a little too strong today, it wasn’t in the cards.”
Van der Poel also said he was “proud” because he was able to keep up with the best climbers in the peloton on Tuesday. “So I have to be happy,” he said. Pogacar came equal in time with Van der Poel due to the stage victory, but the Dutchman retained the jersey because he had better results in the first four stages.
As a result, Van der Poel can also start the individual time trial over 33 flat kilometers in and around Caen on Wednesday as the leader in the general classification. “I’m going to try to hold on to the yellow for another day, but that will be very difficult in the time trial.”
0:33