"I'm riding insane wattages and they're still coming back at us" - Mathieu van der Poel in disbelief during stage 13

There's was a massive battle for a spot in the breakaway in the thirteenth stage of the Tour de France. Even the likes of Mathieu van der Poel tried to enter to early moves. However with wind picking up the speed and peloton nervous about echelons, the world champion never got much of a gap.

Mike Teunissen, who was on a lead-out duty for green jersey wearer Biniam Girmay, expressed his surprise about the stage to the NOS. "The first hour and a half was not normal. I was still talking to Mathieu when he was caught. He said: 'I'm riding insane wattages here and it's unbelievable that they're still coming back at us. We've been riding for it the whole time'."

"Then there was also the game in the wind... There are no easy days in the Tour. It was unbelievable. We can go to bed early tonight, that's nice for a change," Teunissen jokes.

Teunissen's leader Biniam Girmay wasn't able to contest the victory in Pau. The Eritrean had to settle for fourth place. "It was a very difficult stage. Bini was not feeling completely at his best. So we did not interfere with the chase. We would have been happy if there had been no breakaway," Teunissen explains.

"We tried again at the end, but we were no longer fresh. And we have to be realistic. You always want more, but I think we have to be satisfied. Today we were mainly concerned with guiding Bini through the stage well. We succeeded and it is no shame that he comes fourth for once."