"I didn't want that, unless Jasper felt really bad" - Mathieu van der Poel stays out of the battle for the win on stage 8 at the Tour de France

Many had expected stage 8 of the 2023 Tour de France to be a battle between Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel. It was Jasper Philipsen who took the lead for Alpecin-Deceuninck however, finishing 2nd as van der Poel again reverted to his leadout role.

"Everything went perfectly, but I think someone was just stronger today. I think I dropped him off well. We knew Mads Pedersen would go a long way," said van der Poel in his post-stage interview with NOS. "I think Jasper just didn't have the legs anymore, of course that can happen once. We can't expect him to win everything here."

After Philipsen was unable to overcome Pedersen in the final rise to the line, does van der Poel have any regrets about not going for the win himself? "I immediately said I didn't want that, unless Jasper felt really bad. Then we would switch," he explains. “It would be a shame if we let points go here for Jasper's points classification. Soon we will be short of those points in Paris and we are now also riding for the green."

"There are still opportunities to come, so we have to wait for the next opportunity," van der Poel concludes.