Sniffling Van der Poel was unaware of remaining leaders up front: “Only found out later”

Before the stage, Van der Poel told NOS that he’d gotten through the rest day reasonably well. “A rest day is always welcome. I hope it helped the whole peloton. It’s always nice, though sometimes you feel even more tired after it. But this time it wasn’t too bad, mainly nice to not have a set schedule and just take it easy,” said the Dutchman, who sounded a bit congested.

The ride to Toulouse seemed like a stage tailor-made for him. “The plan is definitely to go for it again,” confirmed the winner of stage two. “We’ll see how the race plays out, but if a small, controllable group gets away, we’ll definitely help chase. We reconned the final two climbs on Tuesday, and that last one is right on the limit. If Vingegaard and Pogacar start attacking each other there, it’ll be tough for the rest to follow.”

It didn’t quite work out: after two hours of all-out racing, Van der Poel launched an attack alongside Wout van Aert in pursuit of the breakaway. But he never quite made it. After accelerating on the final climb, he came within seven seconds, but the win went to Jonas Abrahamsen. The former world champion had thought he was riding for the victory. “It was a chaotic situation. I only found out later that two riders were still ahead, so that’s a shame.”

His attack was so explosive it looked like it had been the plan all day. “Not really,” Van der Poel said, catching his breath. “I didn’t feel like I had much left in the tank when Quinn Simmons went on the second-to-last climb. When Wout responded, I was right on my limit. I tried to recover a bit in that flat section, but I didn’t expect to have anything left to give after that.”

After dropping Van Aert, Axel Laurance (INEOS Grenadiers), and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto), Van der Poel believed he was leading the race, especially after catching Quinn Simmons and Mathieu Burgeaudeau (TotalEnergies). “At one point I did. The race radio has been a mess all week. I think with so many devices in the Tour, it just glitches. I thought the group we were chasing was the breakaway, but I quickly noticed from the motorbikes that there were still guys up the road.”

He nearly closed the gap, 35 seconds dropped to just 7, but couldn’t quite make contact before the front two sprinted it out. “I knew it was going to be tough. I had to pace myself a little, and I figured they’d keep working together to sprint for the win.” In the end, Abrahamsen narrowly edged out Mauro Schmid (Jayco–AlUla).

Initially, Van der Poel hadn’t expected to go for the win himself. “I definitely wasn’t feeling great at the start, and I’d told the team they could race for the stage. But at some point I found myself in the front again, saw the opportunity, and just went for it.” After the finish, he confirmed he was dealing with a cold. “But a lot of riders in the peloton have the same thing. I had a heavy head, but it got better as the stage went on. That’s why I was a bit reluctant in the beginning.”