Van der Poel falls just short, but nevertheless sees teammate's plan succeed: 'That was his dream'

“I had discussed with Jonas that we wanted to go for it today,” Van der Poel said, catching his breath after the stage in an interview with Eurosport. “His dream was to stand on the podium of the Tour de France. I wanted to help him win the combativity award, I hope they’ve given it to him.” When Van der Poel is told that Rickaert has been awarded the most combative rider of the day, he lights up. “That was his dream.”

And there was almost more in it than just that prize for Rickaert. Van der Poel was only reeled in with the finish line in sight. “In the end, we came really close, but we were both on the limit. It was a really hard day. The roads didn’t help when it’s just two guys in front, and with the wind, we knew that at certain moments the GC riders would push the pace. It’s a shame we couldn’t finish it off, but we put on a great show.”

When Van der Poel first attacked, it seemed like he was only looking to score points for the green jersey. But as the Alpecin-Deceuninck duo kept pushing hard, it quickly became clear there was more to it. “I’m not going for the green jersey, it was purely about the breakaway,” said Van der Poel. “We knew there was a chance a split in the wind could bridge across. We suffered, but we also enjoyed it.”

Speaking to NOS, Van der Poel shared a similar message. “I had no idea what to expect, but I was hoping that, in the end, it would at least lead to something. Not that I’d be caught just as the finish was in sight,” he said, sounding disappointed.

Besides helping teammate Rickaert, Alpecin-Deceuninck had other motives in the team time trial. “For us, it wasn’t bad to make the race a bit harder. We weren’t going to control the pace for Kaden (Groves, ed.) anyway. In fact, it’s usually better for him when the race is tough.”

So the question remains: did Van der Poel believe he could make it to the finish? “Not really,” the Dutchman admitted. “At one point, it looked promising for a bit. Jonas was really on the limit, but you know the peloton always comes in fast in the end.”

He may not have noticed it all, but things got pretty chaotic behind them in the peloton. “That’s what we were hoping for. In the end, some help did come,” said Van der Poel about the group that eventually worked together. “But in the end, it doesn’t really get us much, apart from Jonas getting to stand on the podium.”