Mathieu van der Poel said some very interesting things after his Tour de France win: 'Deepest I've ever gone'

For the first half hour after his victory in Stage 21 of the Tour de France, Mathieu van der Poel mainly had to catch his breath, catch up on his breathing, and recover; and after he had hugged his teammates, Tadej Pogacar and his girlfriend Roxanne, Han Kock from the NOS approached him twice: once before the ceremony and once afterward. Van der Poel shared some interesting insights on both occasions.

"I think everyone has seen that I can dig deep when the finish line is in sight. I've said it a few times already, but this might have been the deepest I've ever gone. I actually thought it was over, and with 500 meters to go, I figured I had nothing left to lose."

"Head down and go as fast as I could to the finish line. When I saw a front wheel, I sat up straight again and pushed my front wheel across the finish line. It was an amazing moment."

"I'd definitely rank this victory in the top five, and maybe even the top three. This might just be one of my all-time best wins. It was a monumental finish, especially with Tadej Pogacar out in front—perhaps the greatest rider of all time. I don't get emotional very often, but today I did, just a little bit."

"I'd been working toward this for about a year now, ever since I was sitting on my couch feeling sick last year. I watched Wout van Aert win and knew right away: next year, I'm going to give it my all to win this one. This was definitely at the top of my list; little by little, I've checked almost everything off my list. I’m proud and happy.”

"That's the kind of champion Tadej is—just hanging in there right to the end. That's how we race, and that's exactly what he did again. At the end, I really went all out. It’s always been a dream of mine to win on the Champs-Élysées, and with Montmartre, that chance was a little better.”

"The start of this Tour de France was certainly not what we had hoped for, but we never stopped fighting, and in the end, our team won three stages. It’s been a more than successful Tour de France for us."