"It went so hard that it doesn’t matter whether you try to join the breakaway or not" - Mathieu van der Poel justifies his choice to join the stage 4 breakaway

Mathieu van der Poel has been unusually quiet in the opening days of Tour de France, mostly hanging at the middle of the pack without any major activity. But on the stage with Col du Galibier, the world champion finally showed his rainbow jersey at the front when he joined the daily breakaway.

"But the first climb was really hard and I felt pretty okay," Van der Poel explained to WielerFlits after the stage. "It was tough for everyone anyway. I got away with a big group, but I quickly realized that it didn’t really have a chance of success. The difference was kept very small."

With peloton keeping the escapees on a short leash, there was never a shadow of doubt how the stage would play out. "It was hopeless anyway. Maybe it’s still hopeless for me if the gap becomes really big, but I think this is good to get the racing legs. How were those legs on the Galibier? The good feeling was already gone a bit there, but before that I felt pretty okay. This is what I need now, that racing toughness. That will be fine."

But Van der Poel had another reason to join the early breakaway. "I just prefer to be in the leading group than in the peloton or at the back. It’s not like this is part of a specific training schedule for the Olympic Games. I think I’m just still looking for that race hardness. And on that first climb it went so hard that it doesn’t matter whether you try to join the breakaway or not," the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider concluded.