The high mountains may not be his natural terrain, but nevertheless, Mathieu van der Poel completed one final day in the breakaway at the Critérium du Dauphiné as the race concluded atop the Plateau du Mont-Cenis.
Only three weeks have passed since the Dutchman crashed twice and fractured his right wrist in the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup round in Nové Mesto, and here he is, fully prepared to take on the Tour de France next month.
Van der Poel was back on his indoor trainer three days after sustaining the fracture, while he headed to the Dauphiné with just two weeks of recovery time under his belt.
Eight days of racing later, he has five top-10 finishes to his name, including two stage podiums, and he missed out on the green points jersey by the narrowest of margins, finishing the race level on points with overall champion and triple stage winner Tadej Pogačar.
"Let's hope so, but of course, the Tour is something else. It will be a chaotic first week, so hopefully we can manage to win a stage already," Van der Poel said, before asserting that a challenging week of racing at the Dauphiné is exactly what he needed to be ready for the Tour.
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