On his first Tour de France, Mathieu van der Poel won Stage 2 after an impressive onslaught at Mûr-de-Bretagne, which also awarded him the coveted yellow jersey.
“I imagine how (Poupou) he would be proud of me. It’s a shame he’s not here, but there’s nothing we can do. I knew this was my last chance to take the yellow jersey, it’s amazing,” said Van der Poel after finishing the race. He dedicated this win to his grandfather, French cycling legend Raymond Poulidor, who participated 14 times at la Gran Boucle but never wore the yellow jersey.
Van der Poel’s had laid out his intentions 17 km ahead of the arrival, on the first ascent of Mur-de-Bretagne, where he managed to get precious seconds. “I gambled a little bit. I went on the first climb because I knew I needed the bonus seconds if I wanted the jersey. It was my last chance to get it,” Van der Poel said.
In the general classification, Van der Poel leads with 8 seconds followed by Julian Alaphilippe and who won stage 1. The Alpecin-FENIX team captain also leads the climber classification, which awarded him the polka-dot jersey.
As a sponsor of the Alpecin-FENIX team, we celebrate Van der Poel’s historic achievement and we are proud of the team’s performance.
