Mathieu van der Poel has hinted he will leave the Tour de France if he soon shows signs of improvement after a long day of suffering on the way to Longwy.
The Dutch star has been under his most productive cloak and sword on this Tour, and his upheavals have intensified over the past two days. After taking fifth place in the opening time trial and then helping to organise the sprints for Jasper Philipsen, Van der Poel due to making a call for himself on the cobblestones on Wednesday, but crashed almost 50km from the end.
On Thursday, things deteriorated further, as Van der Poel briefly lost contact with the peloton and frantically started stage 6. He spent the rest of the day at the excessive end of the group, just hooked.
“It’s been a very long day for me,” Van der Poel said, according to Dutch broadcaster NOS. “I thought about giving up several times. It’s not a great day and I have nothing to contribute. “
Thank you for reading five articles this month*
Register now to access
Enjoy your first month for £1/$1/€1
* Read five loose articles consistent with the monthly subscription
after your trial, you will be charged £4. 99 £7. 99 $5. 99 according to the month, cancel at any time. Or sign up for a year for £49 £79$59
Register now to access
Try your first month for £1/$1/€1
Associate Editor – Europa. Patrick is an NCTJ-trained journalist who has seven years of delight in professional cycling coverage. He has a degree in Modern Languages from Durham University and has been able to put it to smart use in what is a multilingual game, with a specific focus on French and Spanish speaking cyclists. After joining Cyclingnews as editor-in-chief thanks to his professional experience, Patrick became editor-in-chief in 2018 and oversaw a significant expansion throughout the site. -deep production. Since 2021, he has been deputy editor-in-chief – Europe, taking more responsibility for the content of the site as a whole, while continuing to write and, despite a pandemic-induced disruption, to racing. all over the world. Outside of cycling, Patrick spends most of his time gambling or watching other bureaucracy of the game: football, tennis, racing, darts, to name a few, but he is limited to rugby.
Cyclingnews is part of Future plc, a leading foreign media organisation and virtual publisher. Visit our company (opens in a new tab).