Heartbreaking Stage 9 finish for Van der Poel as his challenge fades in final moments of the race

FRANCE: Mathieu van der Poel led the race almost all the way through Stage 9 of the Tour de France, but in the last 700 metres, his breakaway with teammate Jonas Rickaert faltered, leaving him without a win.

Rickaert began to get away with only 6 kilometres remaining, and it left Van der Poel to battle for the stage win alone. Van der Poel, who recently secured a victory in Boulogne-sur-Mer, fought hard until the very end, setting up an exciting sprint finish for the peloton. 

Although Van der Poel had a 30-second lead, the peloton kept up with him. As he got closer to the finish line, he was still in front but only by a little, as the main group was too fast.

In the end, Van der Poel was caught just before the finish. Tim Merlier from Soudal-QuickStep won the sprint. Van der Poel and his teammate Jasper Philipsen had already won both stages during the weekend. However, winning the third stage was just too hard.

After the stage, Rickaert shared that his goal was to stand on the Tour de France podium. He had discussed this with Van der Poel before the race. With this, he stated: “I always wanted to be on the Tour podium, so I made a joke of it that we’d go with two from the start, but it seems he was serious, so we just continued, and I was slowly dying. We tried, and too bad that we didn’t succeed.” 

He added: “I think we did [put on a show]. I think every sports director who passed me gave the thumbs up, so it seems like we did a good effort.” 

Van der Poel then confirmed that their strategy was to support Rickaert in securing his goal. He admitted, “I discussed with Jonas that we wanted to go for it today. His dream is to be on the Tour de France podium, so I was happy to help him get combativity. I hope they give it to him.” 

“I’m really happy. That was one of his dreams. In the end, we came really close, but I think we were both just on the limit. It was a very hard day… The roads were not really helping with two riders in front, and of course, with the wind, we knew the GC teams would come back at certain moments. It’s hard to not be able to finish it off, but we put on a good show today,” the athlete said. 

On social media, Rickaert expressed: “What a day. What a ride. Thank you @mathieuvanderpoel for being part of this. Thank you @alpecindeceuninck for the opportunity. This means so much to me. Too bad we missed the win in the end, but we can be proud of what we did.” 

 

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A post shared by Jonas Rickaert (@jonasrickaert)

Netizens commented on the post and said: “Seeing you riding in the front for MVDP is crazy my friend, but today made history and we are proud of you both despite not winning. 👏,” “An incredible power, bravo guys, you are legends, you have officially gone down in history.🙏🤩👏”, and “Nice try men! What a stage!!! 🔥🔥👏👏👏👏.”