"I am pleased with my legs" insists Mathieu van der Poel despite losing race lead at Tour de Luxembourg 2024 on stage 3
Cycling
Mathieu van der Poel is using the 2024 Tour de Luxembourg primarily as preparation for the upcoming World Championships road race, where he will look to retain his Rainbow Jersey against the likes of Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel, Primoz Roglic and more.
After taking the victory on the opening stage in a reduced sprint and then coming home a close second to Mads Pedersen on stage 2, Van der Poel entered the first real general classification test at the 2024 Tour de Luxembourg on stage 3 in the race lead. Despite a relatively strong showing on a tough day though, that race lead has now been passed on to Soudal - Quick-Step's Mauri Vansevenant.
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"It was an incredibly tough stage. Today we simply did not have enough manpower to control. I was soon alone in the race and had to react a lot to attacks," reflects the Dutchman in his post-stage interview, referring to the illness that has swept through the Alpecin-Deceuninck team, taking out half of Van der Poel's teammates.
Eventually crossing the line 41 seconds behind Vansevenant in third, Van der Poel drops to third overall, 34 seconds down on the Belgian. "I am pleased with my legs, it was a difficult stage. I think I managed to keep control quite well," concludes the world champion optimistically. "As I said before the race, the goal was mainly to win a stage than to go for the general classification. We will see how the last two stages go."
2024 Tour de Luxembourg GC after stage 3:
| 1 | VANSEVENANT Mauri | Soudal Quick-Step | 12:21:16 |
| 2 | FORMOLO Davide | Movistar Team | 0:23 |
| 3 | VAN DER POEL Mathieu | Alpecin - Deceuninck | 0:34 |
| 4 | HIRSCHI Marc | UAE Team Emirates | 0:49 |
| 5 | KRON Andreas | Lotto Dstny | 0:50 |
| 6 | SWEENY Harry | EF Education - EasyPost | 0:53 |
| 7 | TIBERI Antonio | Bahrain - Victorious | 0:54 |
| 8 | PIGANZOLI Davide | Team Polti Kometa | ,, |
| 9 | LEMMEN Bart | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | ,, |
| 10 | KELDERMAN Wilco | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | ,, |
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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La victoire pour Mauri Vansevenant ! Le Belge s'adjuge en solitaire la 3e étape du Tour de Luxembourg, devant Davide Formolo et un Mathieu van der Poel pas au mieux dans la dernière bosse du jour #SkodaTour #LesRP
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