"I tried to time it as best as I could" - Mathieu van der Poel returns to leadout role after stint in yellow

Mathieu van der Poel has been in or near the front every single day so far at the Tour de France, and today was no exception. Alpecin-Deceuninck chased the stage win in the final bunch sprint with Kaden Groves and the Dutchman was the one leading out the sprint for the entire peloton.

Van der Poel has won stage 2 and has wore the yellow jersey on two separate blocks, having joined the breakaway on stage 6 after having lost the race lead the day before. But on the Mur-de-Bretagne the 30-year old couldn't hang on with the best riders and ultimately lost the lead. Today, he did not aim to chase points for the green jersey and instead focused on helping the team gather a win with it's new head sprinter Kaden Groves.

In the chaotic finale Groves managed to get to the front in the wheel of van der Poel, but could only sprint to third in the uphill sprint to the line. "It was honestly a super tough final. Especially the uphill section towards the roundabout, where we turned," van der Poel said in a flash interview following the stage. "You know there will be teams coming from the back on the descent. So yeah, I tried to time it as best as I could. In the end, I had to wait a bit because I think Kaden lost the wheel. I think we did well. Kaden too. Finishing third is pretty strong."

But Jonathan Milan was unbeatable. "We know he's the fastest here, along with Merlier. With Jasper we might have had a better chance here today, but Kaden is coming from the Giro. He's getting better every day. Maybe we'll get a win with him later." As for van der Poel, we should see him towards the front once again on stage 11 to Toulouse.