It is clear that Tour de France 2022 has taken its toll on Mathieu van der Poel, as he admitted at the cobbles that he was not feeling well. But on 8th July, Friday, he confessed that he is thinking of abandoning the Tour altogether if his form doesn’t show a significant change.
The Alpecin–Fenix rider was seen grappling at the previous stages. He was only able to close in 5th on the time trial and from there on things just kept getting worse for him. He barely managed to perform on the cobbles, and Thursday’s stage 6th was even more disagreeable. His contact with the peloton was lost, and he just staggered behind.
The displeasure was quite prominent in his tone as he said:
It was a very long day for me, I considered giving up several times. It was not a nice day, and I have nothing to add to that.
Van der Poel does not seem to be enjoying the bike anymore. His father revealed on Thursday, 7th July, that Poel’s COVID-19 test result is negative. Hence, the root cause of his unrest remains a mystery.
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Prior to taking part in Tour de France, Mathieu starred in Giro d’Italia, which was the first Grand Tour completed by him. Things seemed to play out well for him at the Giro, but Tour de France is a totally different story. Mathieu acknowledges it:
We knew that the Giro and the Tour would not be an easy combination, but I didn’t expect such a setback either
It is speculated that the gap of a whole month between the two tours could have messed with the 27-year-old’s form. His little break before joining the training camp in Italy seems to have come with a high cost. The director of the team, Christoph Roodhooft, is also aware of the difficult situation at hand. He said:
We tried to do the best we could, but at the moment it’s not working as expected
The team management was well aware of Mathieu’s situation even before the Tour started, as the director stated:
We knew he wasn’t top when we got to the Tour, but we had the idea that after a few quiet days he would get a better feeling on the bike
At the moment, Mathieu is giving it another chance and trying to get back in form, but if things do not improve for him, he might drop out after Friday’s match. An anxious Van der Poel said to the media:
I’ll keep trying, against my better judgment. I hope for improvement, If I had stopped [on Thursday], then I might have regretted it after two days of sitting at home
Will Mathieu rise like a Phoenix, or will he continue to deteriorate? Only time can answer that.
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Also Read: Tour De France: Tadej Pogačar Takes The Yellow Jersey On Stage 6
Featured Image Via YouTube/ Jose Cycling
