Even Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) can be left in awe of the recovery of cycling's top Grand Tour riders, with the Classics superstar questioning just how they come out swinging each and every day for three weeks, after he lost the yellow jersey on stage 7 of the Tour de France.
Despite conquering Mûr-de-Bretagne in emotional fashion four years ago to take yellow, Van der Poel already knew on Thursday that there was to be no fairytale return, and that his time back in the lead was going to be short-lived. He nearly cramped up a day prior as he got into the breakaway and took over the lead once again from Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), by only one second.
