"He doesn't care about anything" - Sven Nys on Mathieu van der Poel's epic Tour de France breakaway

In 9 days of Tour de France so far, there hasn't been a single one where Mathieu van der Poel wasn't in or near the front in some way. It looked like it could happen on stage 9, but the Dutchman set off in a day-long breakaway with teammate Jonas Rickaert which almost ended in a memorable win. The Alpecin-Deceuninck riders' efforts and bravery were highly praised despite the plan not having worked to perfection.

It was a plan made the day before, where Jonas Rickaert had said that he had a dream of being on the Tour podium - potentially as the day's combative. Because of that, the two went off to form a breakaway and took advantage of the predicted scenario that no other rider would try to be in front - a surprising yet recurrent scenario throughout this first week in the flat days. However the wind made it an incredibly difficult task for the peloton to bring them back, and it was only due to the work of minor sprinter's teams who worked to have a shot at victory - whilst not trying to be in a breakaway which would provide them with much higher chances of succeeding.

Van der Poel was caught inside the final two kilometers, and will hope to have as easy of a day as possible this Monday to be able to recover from such efforts. "He'll be thinking: 'I'm going to have to recover really well and replenish myself to survive this.' There will be a rest day afterward, but for him, I hope a breakaway will be formed very soon so he can ride in the sheltered conditions. But it was impressive," Nys said in an analysis for Sporza.

Van der Poel has won a stage, been in the yellow jersey on two separate stints, and inbetween has been on leadout duties for Jasper Philipsen and Kaden Groves. On stage 9 he set himself up for a new adventure, one that almost gave him a massive victory. "It's typical of Mathieu van der Poel. He doesn't care about anything, he just does what he feels like. Whether that cost him a lot or a little energy, we'll see tomorrow."

He contributed to what was the second fastest stage in the Tour's history and with great certainty it will be one of the moments of the race. "This is a moment where he didn't want to be stuck in the peloton's belly until it was too late, thinking this would be a sprinter's stage where he'd have to take risks in the lead-out, and even if it fails, there's enormous respect for the way he made the race beautiful."