Mathieu van der Poel is again a junction in the Tour de France. The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider from Hoogerheide went into the sixth stage in a group of eight riders. After a difficult final, he reached the finish eighth. He is now in the lead in the rankings with one second lead. The Slovenian Tadej Pogacar just did not sprint hard enough at the arrival of the peloton.
The stage victory in Vire Normandie was for Ben Healy. The Irish of EF Education First – Easypost escaped more than forty kilometers before the finish from a leading group of eight riders to which Van der Poel also belonged. For almost three minutes the American Quinn Simmons sprinted to second place for Australian Michael Storer.
Ten times yellow
It is Van der Poel his tenth yellow sweater and with that he has worn the two most yellow sweaters in the Netherlands. Only Tour winner Joep Zoetemelk (22) and Wout Wagtmans from Sint Willebrord (12) more often wore the leader’s sweater in the Tour de France.
More later.