Tour de France leader Van der Poel: I knew there was going to be trouble

Tour de France 2021 108th Edition 3rd stage Lorient Pontivy 1829 km 28062021 Tim Merlier BEL AlpecinFenix Jasper Philipsen BEL AlpecinFenix photo POOL Stephane MaheBettiniPhoto2021
Mathieu van der Poel reacts to his teammates Tim Merlier (winner) and Jasper Philipsen (second place) going one-two on the stage (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Tour de France leader Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) has said that the crash-filled finales of this year’s race have their explanation in a tumultuous cocktail of high pressure and nerves at the biggest race in the world, and the consequences of general classification racers and sprinters simultaneously fighting for forward positions in the closing kilometres of each stage.

Van der Poel himself stayed out of trouble on stage 3, leading Alpecin-Fenix teammate Tim Merlier out in the last kilometre to victory, the second for the German squad in as many days, while Jasper Philipsen was second and Van der Poel himself retained the yellow jersey.

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Alasdair Fotheringham

Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The IndependentThe GuardianProCycling, The Express and Reuters.