"I didn't feel like I had anything left in my legs" - Mathieu van der Poel on brutal day out at Tour de France

Mathieu van der Poel reported being ill at the start of today's Tour de France stage and was at the back of the peloton throughout the first kilometers. However, the breakaway formation took so much time that the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider eventually put himself in position and went on to fight for the stage win. It was close but no cigar for the former yellow jersey.

Van der Poel's performance, like many others today, was quite impressive. He formed an absolute elite group that jumped out of the breakaway in the final hour and a half of the race with Wout van Aert, Quinn Simmons, Axel Laurance and Arnaud de Lie. The quintet had to work had to stay in sight of the front group in which stage winner Jonas Abrahamsen was present in.

On the penultimate climb of the day, van der Poel couldn't respond to Quinn Simmons' attack who tried getting to the front group by himself. "I didn't feel like I had anything left in my legs when Simmons went down on the penultimate climb. When Wout reacted, I was at my limit. I tried to recover, but I didn't feel like I had anything left," he told NOS in a post-race interview.

"I certainly wasn't at my best, especially in the beginning. I had also told the team they could join the race. After that, I was still at the front of the race. I have a bit of a cold and a heavy headache, but it got better at some point. That's why I was a bit hesitant at the beginning."

But on that final climb we saw the best van der Poel in action, putting in a dashing attack to drop his group companions and be the sole chaser to the front duo. Although, the 30-year old admits that he actually believed he was in the head of the race alone at that point in time.

"It was actually a confusing situation. I only heard late that two riders were still in front. That's a shame," he admits. "On the final climb, I thought I was in the lead because the radio connection was difficult. There are so many transmitters, and it gets choppy. I thought the group ahead of us was the breakaway, but I quickly realized there were two more riders ahead."

"I quickly realized afterward that it was going to be difficult. I had to pace myself. I also knew they would keep riding to sprint for the win." Van der Poel rode to third on the day, still with a very strong performance but not bringing in the desired result.