Van der Poel after conquering the yellow jersey
“I should have kept my mouth”
07/11/2025 – 12:05 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Mathieu van der Poel spent the sixth stage of the tour. In the end it was just enough for yellow. But the bike star cursed himself.
It was a single second that decided after the sixth stage about who can wear the yellow jersey on Friday: Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck). The Dutch fought his way and arrived completely exhausted. In the end, it was just enough to take the lead in the overall classification in front of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). Van der Poel then confessed.
He told the Belgian portal “Sporza” at “Vive Le Vélo” about his cramps towards the end of the stage: “I talked about it before the tour with Jasper Philipsen. ‘I have never had anything like this in a race,’ I said. I should have kept my mouth.” Despite the muscle cramps, it was enough for yellow. But his body was not the only problem.
“In the end, the radio no longer worked, so that I couldn’t notice any further time differences. In the last tour that I saw on the scoreboard, everything looked good. So I was surprised when I heard someone said after the finish: ‘This will be scarce’,” continued the Poel.
He added: “Actually, that was more of the team’s decision.” However, he was in contact with the carrier of the yellow jersey on the second stage. “It is still difficult to switch to green. That was always the goal with Jasper. He tells me every day that I should switch to green,” said van der Poel.