It was, in theory, a day for Mathieu van der Poel to take it easy. Already at this year’s Tour de France he had won a stage, placed second on another, and worn the yellow jersey twice. The week – his entire race, in fact – was a thumping success. Stage nine, then, a flat romp to Châteauroux, would bring a welcome chance for the Dutchman to catch his breath.
Except this is Mathieu van der Poel, a man who lives to go long range. When the flag dropped in Chinon on Sunday, the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider dropped the peloton. He’d end up spending 173 of the stage's 174 kilometres off the front, most of them in tandem with his team-mate Jonas Rickaert, before his hopes were swallowed whole.
