'We had to really fight' – Mathieu van der Poel takes back yellow jersey from Tadej Pogačar by just one second at the Tour de France

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) reclaimed the yellow jersey from overnight leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) by just one second after his gruelling efforts in the breakaway on stage 6 into Vire Normandie at the Tour de France.

"Yes, for sure," Van der Poel said he was delighted to be leading the GC standings again at the French Grand Tour, but remained cautious about how long he would be able to keep it.

"It will probably only be for one day, but it's really nice to wear it again."

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Early on in the Tour de France, Van der Poel pulled on the yellow jersey after winning stage 2 into Boulogne-sur-Mer, but he lost the lead to Pogačar following the stage 5 individual time trial in Caen.

Van der Poel started stage 6 in fifth place overall at 1:28 behind Pogačar but emerged as part of a day-long breakaway of eight other riders, including eventual stage winner Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), roughly 60km into the day's 201.5km race from Bayeux to Vire Normandie.

In a post-race interview, Van der Poel said the move was planned from the beginning, but that he didn't expect it to be so hard to form a gap and that the pace of the peloton was exceedingly fast.

"The initial plan was to try and be in the breakaway. It was a really hard stage. It was super fast racing from the start, and it took about until our group went, and even then, we had to really fight to get the gap," he recalled of the breakaway's efforts.

The move also included Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) and Will Barta (Movistar), along with Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Michael Storer (Tudor), and Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla).

They gained more than five minutes on the field, led by Pogačar's UAE Team Emirates-EXG.

Healy launched a solo attack from 40km out and hung on to win the stage, while Simmons and Storer formed a chase behind to claim second and third on the day.

Van der Poel, however, showed signs of struggle from the third chase group on the road, and when they hit the final 3km climb to the finish, he began to hemorrhage time as the peloton accelerated behind.

"I felt that I didn't have the best day, and in the end, I was fighting against myself," Van der Poel said.

In the end, Van der Poel hung on to cross the line in eighth on the day, just 1:29 ahead of Pogačar, who crossed the line in ninth, but it was enough to take back the yellow jersey by just one second.

Although Van der Poel only expects to keep the race lead for one day, he said it will be a special one, as stage 7 finishes at the Mûr-de-Bretagne (Guerlédan) on Friday. Van der Poel won stage 2 on this climb and took the yellow jersey during the 2021 edition of the Tour de France.

"Yeah, for sure, it is really nice to go in yellow to this special place for me, but if you see how Tadej is riding today, also Jonas, it will be very difficult, not only for me, but for the whole bunch to follow on this climb. I'll try my best to recover as good as possible from today, and then we will see."

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