"It's been a while since I could raise my hands in the air" - Mathieu van der Poel sees spirits boosted by first win in nearly 6 months at Tour de Luxembourg
Cycling
For the first time in nearly six months, Mathieu van der Poel celebrated winning a bike race on Tuesday afternoon in Luxembourg. With the 2024 World Championships looming, the confidence boosting victory could be perfectly timed too.
"It's great to win the first stage. It's been a while since I could raise my hands in the air," reflected the new Tour de Luxembourg race leader in his post-stage interview following a brutal uphill sprint that saw Van der Poel prevail ahead of Christophe Laporte and Andreas Kron. "It was fun today, it was a beautiful stage and I'm looking forward to the rest of the race."
"It's been a while since I've been here, it must have been the cyclocross world championships, where I lost," continued the Alpecin-Deceuninck leader, referencing the 2017 cyclocross worlds where Van der Poel lost out to his great rival Wout van Aert. "It was a beautiful stage and as I said the rest of the stages look tough, so I'm going to enjoy it. I'm very happy with the stage win."
It ended up being far from a perfect day for Van der Poel and Alpecin-Deceuninck however, as no fewer than three of the world champion's teammates were forced to abandon due to an illness spreading throughout the team. "I think winning stages is important. We lost some riders due to illness, we are now down to three. It will therefore be difficult to control the race. I came here to win a stage and I succeeded in the first stage so that is nice, it takes some of the pressure off for what is to come," concluded Van der Poel.
Results: 2024 Tour de Luxembourg stage 1
| 1 | van der Poel Mathieu | Alpecin-Deceuninck | 20 | 03:46:28 |
| 2 | Laporte Christophe | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 15 | + 00 |
| 3 | Kron Andreas | Lotto Dstny | 10 | + 00 |
| 4 | Lemmen Bart | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 5 | + 00 |
| 5 | Fisher-Black Finn | UAE Team Emirates | 3 | + 00 |
| 6 | Tiberi Antonio | Bahrain Victorious | + 00 | |
| 7 | Kelderman Wilco | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | + 00 | |
| 8 | Guerreiro Ruben | Movistar Team | + 00 | |
| 9 | Barrenetxea Jon | Movistar Team | + 00 | |
| 10 | Labrosse Jordan | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | + 00 |
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- He is boring
leedorney08-11-2026 - To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
Dariusz08-11-2026 - Uwielbiam patrzeć, jak wyjeżdża na czoło peletonu i zaczyna się rzeź...Dariusz08-11-2026
- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
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"THAT WAS IMPRESSIVE!" 😮 Mathieu Van der Poel wins for the first time since and April and takes the opening stage of the Tour of Luxembourg! 🔥
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