Suisse Normande no walk in the park, says Adrie van der Poel after Mathieu's yellow coup in Tour de France

“We said it already, ten kilometers from the finish line: Mathieu is going to need at least a minute at the start of that last kilometer,” Adrie began his recap at the Alpecin-Deceuninck bus. “One second... it's not much, but it's enough for the yellow jersey. Of course, he would have preferred to have had half a minute left because then he would have had a slightly bigger advantage. But you have to be satisfied.”

“It was, of course, a very challenging day, with intense riding throughout. Mathieu had to fight hard for a long time to break away. This was perhaps one of the most difficult days of this Tour,” concluded father Van der Poel, drawing on his vast experience. “After the intermediate sprint, they started racing hard, and it took a while for them to break away on a difficult course.”

In Suisse Normande, as the locals call the area in the Calvados department, it was indeed full throttle. “I think they were riding at an average speed of 45, 46... and the other guys at the front were probably riding a little more on reserve while Mathieu was trying to give it his all. Not so much with the idea of winning the stage, but certainly with the idea of getting the yellow jersey back.”

"This is tougher than a mountain stage," Adrie explains. "In a mountain stage, you ride towards a mountain, and then you go at your own pace, and that’s it. Here, it’s constantly sprinting and stopping, you know? And in a breakaway group, there are always riders who have other interests. And make no mistake: they are excellent riders," he points out.

2Ben Healy breaking away wasn't so bad. He was by far the strongest. We know his style, there's nothing wrong with that," analyzes father Van der Poel. "Then you hope that they'll still be there behind him. And at the end of the day, it also counts that Mathieu is just a little heavier than those guys. But it's always a combination of all those factors. It was a day with 3,500 meters of climbing, which is tough."

On Friday, the Mur de Bretagne awaits, where Van der Poel managed to take the yellow jersey in 2021. “But I think you have to put that aside for now. We'll just start and see how it goes. Are we just going to control the race, or are there other teams? For Mathieu, it's important to ride at the front, but a stage like this demands a lot from your recovery. They are starting in top condition, though, so recovery is often good.”