'My legs just didn't want to continue anymore' – Mathieu van der Poel fades in Tour de France sprint under Pogačar's pressure but keeps yellow

Very few, if any, riders are able to challenge Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) on a finish akin to the one which featured on stage 4 of the Tour de France, let alone drop him, with a puncheur's paradise into Rouen playing right into his strengths on paper.

However, one of them was present at the 2025 Tour – Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), and the World Champion put the Dutchman to the sword with a brutal assault of the closing steep hills and breathless sprint to the line to deny him a victory in the yellow jersey.

Jonas Vingegaard, too, had a key role to play, with his Visma-Lease a Bike squad lighting things up before Pogačar tried to burst away on a steep rise. Van der Poel could only chase with the likes of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) behind and hope things came back together, which they did, but the damage was done.

Full of lactate, Van der Poel tried to muster up a final surge to the line off the back of UAE's lead-out from João Almeida, but he soon had to sit back in the saddle, with Pogačar romping home for his 100th career win.

He may have lost the stage, but Van der Poel kept hold of yellow, albeit on the same time as Pogačar.

"It was a really hard pace all the last climbs actually, and also the running to the last steep one where Visma went full gas with the whole team, [that] hurt already," said Van der Poel in his press conference.

"Then Tadej launched his attack, and only Jonas had a response. This hurt quite a bit, and then Remco and I closed the gap. I hoped to sprint for the win, but I already felt I was on the limit.

"When I launched, my legs just didn't want to continue anymore. He was the strongest today."

Van der Poel had the extra motivation of wanting to win for his injured teammate Jasper Philipsen, who crashed out yesterday, but said the Belgian – who is a close friend of Pogačar's – would know exactly just what a mission it is to beat him on any day.

"For sure, we hoped to bounce back today with a win, but I think Jasper is the first to understand that it is pretty difficult to beat Tadej," said Van der Poel.

"Luckily, I could beat him a few times already, like two days ago [on stage 2], but today he was the strongest. I hoped to recover a bit from the last steep climb, but he just had more left in the sprint.

"I was a little bit disappointed crossing the finish because I really would have loved to win in the yellow jersey, but I think it's not a shame to lose to Tadej on this parcours. If the legs are full of lactate, there's nothing else you can do, of course."

Van der Poel was also certain that his time in yellow at the 2025 Tour would be coming to an end tomorrow, despite his ability to muster up a stunning TT every now and again, as he did at the 2021 Tour to hold onto yellow after the race against the clock in Laval Espace Mayenne.

But on that occasion, he had a much bigger buffer than zero seconds on Pogačar, and doesn't see a way of getting it back from him after, too, with the steep finishes into Vire Normandie and Mûr de Bretagne suiting the world champion as much as they do Van der Poel.

"I rode one time on my TT bike after Dauphiné, so we will see, but if we are being realistic, it will be my last day in yellow tomorrow. That's OK, I enjoyed it," said Van der Poel, when asked if he was hoping to retain the race lead on Wednesday.

"I don't know how I'm going to gain time again on Tadej the stages after, but I think everybody sees which level on he is riding right now. We will see anyway, and I will try to win another stage in the days after – it probably won't be in yellow, but we will keep trying."

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