Cycling: Van der Poel wins heat stage of the Tour in the Massif Central

“It was a super hard day. The start of the Tour wasn’t that great for our team. But I think we stayed calm as always, we have a great group and believe we can turn it around. (…) It’s great that we can go into the rest day with a win,” said van der Poel.

The section was shortened by around 30 kilometers due to the high temperatures – a first in the long history of the tour. A red heat alert was declared for the Corrèze department. The temperatures were almost 40 degrees.

Nevertheless, the race turned out to be fast at the beginning and then exciting. A group of eight people led by van der Poel were on the climb to Suc au May. At the last mountain classification, around 24 kilometers from the finish, the Dutchman went on the offensive. Pidcock briefly had problems with his bike, but was able to catch up with the other three leaders.

After the rest day, the next mountain tests

In the field of favorites, overall leader Tadej Pogacar’s helpers set the pace and controlled the distance. Later, Jonas Vingegaard and Egan Bernal’s teams also helped, but were unable to catch up with the group. Only a few meters were missing in the end.

Pogacar defended his yellow jersey and his lead of 2:42 minutes over Vingegaard. The German hopeful Florian Lipowitz and his co-captain Remco Evenepoel crossed the finish line at the same time as the competition.

On Monday there is the first day of rest for the drivers. Then we continue in the Central Massif. On the French national holiday, 3,800 meters of altitude and two mountain classifications in the first category have to be overcome between Aurillac and Le Lioran.