“There are some who say it had something to do with the motorbikes” - Mathieu van der Poel’s astonishing 170km+ solo leaves gobsmacked peloton searching for answers
CyclingTuesday, 22 September 2026 at 19:00
Mathieu van der Poel’s extraordinary 170-kilometre solo victory on the final stage of the 2026 Tour de Luxembourg left the peloton struggling to explain what they had just witnessed.
The Dutchman went clear almost from the start of the 177-kilometre stage from Mersch to Luxembourg-Limpertsberg and eventually completed one of the most remarkable rides of the week, despite several teams trying to organise the chase behind.
Gil Gelders was among those attempting to bring him back. Even with six riders rotating at full gas on the flatter roads, Van der Poel’s advantage barely moved.
“We had six guys riding absolutely full gas on the front,” the Quick-Step rider told Het Nieuwsblad. “When you’re rotating with several riders on flat roads, normally you’re much faster than one rider alone. But that gap just stayed at 4:40. Maybe we took twenty seconds off at one point, but not much more than that.”
“A lot of people can’t believe what he did,” Gelders continued. “There are some who say it had something to do with the motorbikes, but I don’t think so. This was something special. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”
“Mathieu has gone off for a training ride”
Stan Dewulf had initially assumed Van der Poel was simply using the final stage as one last hard effort before the World Championships in Montreal. “I even said on the radio: ‘Mathieu has gone off for a training ride.’ I thought, in typical Van der Poel fashion, that he wanted to ride flat out for an hour or two with the World Championships in mind. But I never thought that effort would last all the way to the finish.”
Van der Poel had already spoken earlier in the week about Luxembourg being part of his final preparations for Montreal. After winning Stage 1, he said he could still feel a heavy recent training block in his legs and that the hard race efforts were exactly what he needed before the World Championships. On Sunday, his advantage over the peloton eventually stretched beyond six minutes.
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Even Van der Poel’s own teammate lost track of the gap
Dewulf also revealed that Silvan Dillier had little idea how much time his Alpecin-Premier Tech teammate still had in hand. “He had no idea of the gap and asked whether Mathieu was almost caught. Then I had to tell him that we had barely taken ten seconds out of him.”
Gelders also pointed to the contrast with Stage 3 two days earlier. “It was strange as well, because Friday’s stage was really one for him too, but apparently he didn’t have the legs then.”
Van der Poel finished 52nd that day before riding the following day’s time trial without any apparent GC ambition. By Sunday, he had spent almost an entire stage alone, taken his second victory of the Tour de Luxembourg and secured the mountains classification.
Van der Poel later admitted that the move had not been planned. He had initially expected the riders behind to bridge across before committing once his advantage began growing again.
He now heads to the World Championships in Montreal with two stage wins from Luxembourg and one final race effort that the riders behind spent most of Sunday unable to bring under control.
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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