“There is nothing more we can do” – Mathieu van der Poel delivers Jasper Philipsen perfectly but Tour de France win slips away again
CyclingSaturday, 11 July 2026 at 18:22
Mathieu van der Poel believes Alpecin-Premier Tech could have done little more after another carefully constructed lead-out failed to deliver a Tour de France stage victory for Jasper Philipsen.
Van der Poel guided his teammate through the technical finale of Stage 8 and released him with approximately 150 metres remaining, but Philipsen was unable to convert the position into victory. Tim Merlier surged through from behind to win in Bergerac, with Biniam Girmay and Olav Kooij also passing Philipsen before the line.
Alpecin lead-out ends with another missed opportunity
Liam Slock’s long solo attack was neutralised shortly before the final kilometre, leaving the sprint teams to fight for position through two sharp corners. XDS Astana initially controlled the approach for Max Kanter, while Van der Poel moved Philipsen forward at the decisive moment. The Dutchman accelerated through the final corner with his teammate positioned directly behind him.
“In my view, the lead-out was even better than yesterday,” Van der Poel told NOS after the finish. “I didn’t see much of the sprint itself, but I think I pulled off the front with 150 metres remaining. I had to go reasonably deep myself and didn’t see what happened after that.”
Philipsen waited before launching his own effort, while Merlier was already carrying considerable speed from further back. The Belgian swept past the riders ahead to claim his second victory in successive days, leaving Philipsen fourth after he had finished fifth in Bordeaux.
Van der Poel nevertheless defended the work of Alpecin-Premier Tech’s lead-out train. “We were obviously aiming for more than fourth place,” he acknowledged. “But as I said yesterday, I think we executed it well again. There is nothing more we can do.”
Van der Poel senses improvement before breakaway stage
Although the result again fell short of Alpecin-Premier Tech’s expectations, Van der Poel left Stage 8 encouraged by his own physical condition.
The intense heat had troubled him during the opening week, but two relatively controlled sprint stages provided an opportunity to recover after the first mountain test on the Tourmalet. “They were two easier stages, of course, but it is also true that I feel much better on the bike,” he said. “Tomorrow will be a difficult day, probably one for the breakaway.”
Van der Poel stopped short of committing himself to an attack on Stage 9. “I’m taking it day by day. I had good preparation and there is nothing more I can do. Things should continue to improve. Fortunately, I’m at least feeling somewhat better than I did at the beginning of the Tour de France.”
Alpecin-Premier Tech therefore left Bergerac with Philipsen outside the podium for a second successive sprint, but with Van der Poel finally reporting an improvement after his difficult start to the Tour.
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.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Slashed by 30km? More like timidly trimmed. The riders will still be out there during the hottest hours, from 2 to 5 pm.Hills3311-07-2026
- Perfectly put. Most of the criticism of sprint stages comes from people who find the GC the only interesting thing. Then any stage without GC action, like stage 4, is boring. It's a testament to Pogačar's greatness that he makes mountain stages much more boring than sprints. But then, Froome did that too. And Vingegaard does too. And Contador. And Merckx...
Rafionain-Glas11-07-2026 - lance armstrong calling out someone’s behavior - crazy. there is no bigger poor sport bad teammate in the history of the sport.mij11-07-2026
- I find it boring to watch guys sitting in for 100K just to sprint the last 200 meters, lol. To each his own
ScottG11-07-2026 - Yeah, kind of disappointed me a bit more there. I respect that there are situations where someone in his position would strike a balance that lands the wrong side of history but we now live in a time where each of us has to make changes to our situation to avoid having to make bad choices. And as an example to so many others you have a bit more responsibility in the choices you make. That said, anyone seriously concerned about the future of our world would probably never have chosen to try to become a pro rider unless wanting to militate for change so he is probably not the best person to expect more from. Hopefully at some point he’ll realise the error and find solutions and better sponsors, can’t imagine he can’t be more picky.Mistermaumau11-07-2026
- MTB making headlines during the TdF, haha. even boring articles about MVDP’s expected lack of results at the TdF will get more clicks. For MVDP going to the TdF must feel like most of us feel having to spend Christmas at the in-laws.Mistermaumau11-07-2026
- Welcome to CUTD :-)Mistermaumau11-07-2026
- I did that just through cringing at the text :-) And then there are the contradictions like trying to make you think the shallow rise explained the growing gap when elsewhere it’s the descent.Mistermaumau11-07-2026
- I doubt the official narrative is just one thing and there have been plenty of improvements elsewhere, or else why is equipment nowhere like it was back in the days? Coming from another sport, many of us were always quite surprised at how underdeveloped cycling used to be, including in training but recently that seems to have been realised and reversed which accounts for the relatively big improvement compared to more « advanced » sports. If you also follow amateur cycling you’ll see improvement has been across the board. If you’re interested in more than just pro racing you’d also see how the limits are being pushed out in many different directions like training, endurance and aerodynamics and that pros still have a lot of upward potential, hence the arrival of a Seixas after a Pogačar is not really that surprising.Jumpyjohn11-07-2026
- I think if you do a proper survey you’ll discover differences between Different types of races Different periods of his career Growth from certain areas/reasons and reductions from others. Before any survey, you should decide why you want or need to know. For sure TdF crowds depend more on the kind of French participation there is than anything else. Despite its global screen reach, spectators are largely locals with a high number of visitors following along a series of stages. Pretty sure none of the Mou aren’t there though and considering his criticism of Trump, I’m not quite sure how they let him in, must have been a sleeper before Tadej’s activity woke him.Jumpyjohn11-07-2026
Loading
Write a comment