🇫🇷 #TDF2023 🏆 This brilliant solo victory is the first Grand Tour victory for @WoutPoels! @LeTour #RideAsOne #rideforGino 📸 @SprintCycling
"When Van Aert went, I thought: now I have to come along, this is the ticket to the final climb" - Wout Poels finally a Grand Tour stage winner at age 35
CyclingSunday, 16 July 2023 at 18:41
As many years of service in the Grand Tours, 38-year-old Wout Poels finally has a victory of his own in one of cycling's biggest races after soloing to a stunning stage 15 victory at the 2023 Tour de France.
"I've always dreamed of this. And also after all that has happened in the past four weeks," says the Dutchman in his post-stage interview, referencing the tragic passing of his Bahrain - Victorious teammate, Gino Mader at the Tour de Suisse. “I felt very good yesterday and today too. I rode smart in the leading group. I have not responded to everything. When Van Aert went, I thought: now I have to come along, this is the ticket to the final climb.”
And so it proved, after riding alongside Wout van Aert to get to the climb, Poels attacked the Belgian and dropped him on his way to a summit finish victory. “I thought: I have to ride him off on the steep parts, otherwise I can't get him off. It's nice to ride a rider like that. I'm getting a year older. You always dream of the Tour. I won a Monument and now a Tour stage, it couldn't be better.”
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“As a young rider you dream of the Tour. When we were little, we went away with the camper and happened to come to the Tour with my mom and dad," he concludes. "Now you are participating yourself, for the tenth time already. And then you eventually win a stage. You always dream of that.”
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