"I asked Evenepoel a few weeks ago if he thought I could finish within a minute of him" - Mathieu van der Poel stays in touch with impressive Dauphiné TT

Mathieu van der Poel isn't exactly renowned for his abilities on a time trial bike, but on stage 4 of the 2025 Criterium du Dauphiné, the Dutchman showed some very impressive form to keep himself striking distance of the Maillot Jaune at the end of the day.

Clocking the 6th fastest time on the stage, Van der Poel lost over a minute to the stage winner and new Maillot Jaune Remco Evenepoel, but in terms of the general classification, the Alpecin-Deceuninck leader is just 14 seconds off his Belgian rival in 4th overall.

"I’m really happy with my performance today, especially after spending so much energy yesterday in the breakaway," reflected a proud Van der Poel in his post-stage interview at the finish line. "During the recon and also the warm up, I felt it in my legs but I was motivated to give it my all in this TT. I didn’t think about the overall lead at all. I knew that guys like Remco and the other GC favourites would gain a lot of time today so the yellow jersey was not in sight. It was just for myself, I wanted to do a good TT."

And as mentioned, losing 1:02 to Evenepoel and just 13 seconds to Tadej Pogacar, Van der Poel can be delighted with his efforts, even if he didn't quite manage to live up to a pre-race debate between himself and the Soudal - Quick-Step leader. "I asked Evenepoel a few weeks ago if he thought I could finish within a minute from him," he revealed. "It was close but I still have some work to do!"