"These are moments you have to cherish" - Mathieu van der Poel's father on the special privilege to wear yellow at Tour
Cycling
Mathieu van der Poel did it again and stole the show at the Tour de France by winning the second stage to Boulogne-sur-Mer. Along with this prestigious triumph comes also a privilege the Dutchman is already familar with - to ride around in the yellow jersey in next stage(s).
"I only watched the last kilometre. I just didn't want to see the rest," responded his father Adrie van der Poel to the Dutch press that surrounded him after the stage.
He was already able to analyse that one kilometre. "Knowing Mathieu, he must have felt good. When you sit down third or fourth, you have to wait and then you can't react yourself. Now he could, so that's fantastic. How difficult was it that he could do it like that? It's never easy. It turned out to be ideal, because he had everything under control."
"On Saturday, a huge amount of pressure was taken away by the team and Jasper and the stakes were very high. The disappointment would have been great if he hadn't won. Mathieu didn't have super legs on Saturday, but that was also the case in 2021," he referred to the year when Van der Poel wore yellow for the first time after victory atop Mur de Bretagne.
With kind enough parcours without high mountains in the first week, how long could Mathieu hang on to yellow? "To be honest, I haven't looked further than today. I'm taking the Tour like a rider: day by day and then we'll see. Tomorrow (sprint stage, ed.) should normally be possible and then you have another difficult stage and then a time trial... he'll probably go for it and that's always difficult. We'll have to wait and see."
"These are moments you have to cherish, it's unique. Wearing a yellow jersey normally only happens once in your life and I speak from experience," Adrie said with a smile. "He does things... Milano-Sanremo twice, Paris-Roubaix three times, Tour of Flanders three times... once is difficult, but if you're in the business you know how difficult that is."
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- I'm not trying to argue with you but if you didn't see Del Toro struggling in the Tour I'll pay for some glasses for you lol. He struggled so much that Tadej missed winning stage 15, Tadej also dropped the pace along some stages to help Del Toro hold onto the podium. Now he may have been sick, that is a possibility, but he definitely struggled. You have a nice weekend as well brother.awp13-11-2026
- Im not copmaring him to jonas palmares...but current level of power and again like you even pointed out 19sec difference and on other ocassions del toro dropping him. Its evidently their close and based on both their different trajectory its self explanatory...where we are next year.And Del Toro didnt struggle if getting a podium in his first TDF at 22 year old is struggling you sure dont know how to be objective haha. But have a good weekend this is so dumb to discuss as its not even a discussin in reality as facts speak for themselves of what were actually speaking of - and self explanatory.miguel13-11-2026
- fingers crossed. my son has a poster of wout and mathieu battling each other at the beach at ostend up in his room. would be great to see them again there!Ketterechts13-11-2026
- This Giro is very strange in it's circular route. If you were to have stage starting in Trieste and ending atop Monte Zoncolan (end stage 20) you'd get a stage only 145 km long
Rafionain-Glas13-11-2026 - When Thomas gets the bullet from INEOS he can get a job as a comedian.
Senna196013-11-2026 - Right on. The more the merrier.Occam13-11-2026
- Remember, Del Toro struggled in this Tour. He is great, no doubt about that, but comparing him to a four time gt winner is absurd at this point. He has the potential. We'll have to see how he develops.awp13-11-2026
- what did Jonas gift and to whom? just curious, haven’t heard about this.mij13-11-2026
- You don't gift grand tours as it has come to light that Jonas has come to regret doing such.
Front24213-11-2026 - Exactly you said it urslf - he outclimbed del toro by 19 sec. 19SEC and you say hes alot better than del toro still lol? And can also do the same where del toro did that to jonas even and del toro dauphine numbers better than jonas all year so why this hard whats the issue its super easy stuff - del toro wasnt that before. Then factor in both their trajectory the last years and the answer is self explonatory like i said. Nothing against jonas like many do but the typing is no the wall and so stupidly easy as its so self explanatory now. Have a good daymiguel13-11-2026
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