Van der Poel back on the bike after pneumonia, and Philipsen miraculously rides along after heavy crash

After several unfortunate Tours, Van der Poel had his sights set on Le Grand Départ this year. The difficult first week suited him perfectly, and he wanted to win a stage in the Tour de France again. After teammate Philipsen won the first stage, it was van der Poel himself who won in Boulogne-sur-Mer. This also earned him the yellow jersey. He lost it in the time trial, but regained it the following day.

On the Mûr-de-Bretagne, where he had won his first Tour stage in 2021, he lost it again to Tadej Pogacar. But the cyclo-cross rider was not done yet, as he showed himself in the attack for the rest of the Tour. He was only caught in the final kilometer of stage 9 and finished third in the stage to Toulouse. There, a cold started to bother him, which developed into pneumonia. As a result, his team did not allow him to begin in the sixteenth stage to Mont Ventoux after the rest day.

However, a week after that setback, Van der Poel is already back on his bike, as he showed on Instagram. He did a training lap with teammate Quinten Hermans, but Philipsen was also there. That was remarkable because he crashed hard in the third stage of the Tour. He suffered a broken collarbone and a broken rib. He underwent surgery after the crash, but apparently he is fit enough to get back on his bike.