"Something went wrong with the altitude training camp after the Giro" - Mathieu van der Poel on Tour de France disappointment
Cycling
Mathieu van der Poel was hoping to race the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France double this year, however in the second Grand Tour of the season he found serious difficulties and a notable lack of form which saw him abandon as the race reached the high Alps.
In conversation with NOS at a post-Tour criterium where he's returned to competition, van der Poel stated: "I especially think that something went wrong with the altitude training camp after the Giro towards the Tour". With no racing between the two events, the Dutchman decided to focus on his training, and had a stint at altitude in Livigno before the start of the Tour de France.
"I didn't feel like I came out of the Giro completely empty - quite the opposite. But my body was still recovering and it didn't recover sufficiently at altitude," he explained. Although he finished a strong fifth place at the initial time-trial in Copenhagen, he soon found himself without the legs to compete for the win on the punchy stages of the opening week, and his form only seemed to go down in the second week - where he pulled the plug on stage 11.
"If you do that [altitude training] after a Grand Tour, if you may need more recovery than you think, it may be that your body comes out of the altitude training sooner rather than later," he said. "I'm not one hundred per cent sure, but I have the feeling that it has something to do with that".
The team had been looking for an explanation for the underperforming, it may have came down to poor recovery after the Giro where he was constantly on the attack, and the fatigue build up caused issues onwards. Van der Poel recovered and is now eyeing the final third of the season with clear sights on the World championships.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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