"Impossible for me to beat Jonathan Milan" - Mathieu van der Poel reacts to another Top 3 finish at the Dauphiné

The second stage of the 2025 Critérium du Dauphiné once again saw Mathieu van der Poel in the spotlight. After a strong third place on the opening day — where he followed an attack from Jonas Vingegaard — the Dutchman repeated the result on Monday’s stage, this time in a bunch sprint.

Despite a chaotic run-in to the line, the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider managed to lock onto the wheel of Jonathan Milan, who powered to victory. Van der Poel held his position to take another podium, confirming his growing form ahead of the Tour de France.

Speaking after the stage, Van der Poel — wearing the green jersey, with Milan taking over the overall lead and yellow jersey — reflected on the high-speed finale: "The last 5K was super fast, and it was a bit of a fight for Milan’s wheel. Everybody knows he’s the fastest — like I said, and it was clear again today. So yeah, I’m happy I joined the sprint, and also happy with the third place."

Earlier in the stage, there was a moment of suspense when Milan was dropped on a climb with around 55 kilometers remaining. But any hopes of neutralizing the sprinter were quickly dashed: "It was still quite far, and we knew his whole team was waiting for him to bring him back. So yeah, we knew it was going to be really difficult. I think a sprint was inevitable today."

Van der Poel also addressed questions about his team’s lead-out capabilities, given that Alpecin-Deceuninck is not fielding their full sprint squad at the Dauphiné: "No, I don’t think so. The team did a good job, and in the end, it was up to me for the positioning. But yeah, in sprints like this, it’s almost impossible for me to beat him. He’s one of the fastest guys in a bunch sprint. So yeah, I think I can be happy with third place."

More importantly, Van der Poel appears to be on track with his form following his recent crash, and is using the Dauphiné as key preparation ahead of July: "Yeah, I felt pretty good actually. Hopefully I’ll keep getting better day by day."

"I’m happy with the shape," he adds. "After the crash, there was a bit of doubt about how the preparation would go, but I could do a lot of hours. This is exactly what I need now — to suffer a bit in the final. There’ll be enough suffering left for me the rest of the week, so yeah, I’m looking forward to it."

With six more stages to go, Van der Poel made it clear that his eyes remain fixed on the bigger prize later this summer, the Tour de France: "That’s the goal."