Mathieu-van-der-Poel leaves Tour de France in Tokyo quest after a spectacular star turn in the overall lead came to a shuddering halt in the Alps. The Dutch tour rookie spent six days in the yellow jersey and will head to Tokyo Olympics 2020 to win gold in his preferred mountain biking discipline.
Van der Poel, the grandson of French cycling legend, Raymond Poulidor set pulses racing with his gung-ho stage 2 win where he took the yellow jersey that his grandfather never wore despite eight podium finished on the Tour.
Mathieu works hard to maintain his lead until the Alps where his large frame means the all-rounder is unable to keep up with the lighter climb specialist. On Saturday ‘VDP’ (Van der Poel) as fans call him pulled alongside champion Tadej Pogcar and spoke briefly before giving up the chase and the yellow jersey. Mathieu also called Tour de France ‘kinda fun’.
He said, “I am going to take some to recover from the first week, We knew it would have been difficult for me. I have some other goals. Due to COVID-19, it was too hard to do a whole Tour and be at my best in Tokyo. I will be back next year to go to Paris.”
