Mathieu van der Poel close to pulling the plug at Tour de France

LONGWY FRANCE JULY 07 Mathieu Van Der Poel of Netherlands and Team AlpecinFenix competes during the 109th Tour de France 2022 Stage 6 a 2199km stage from Binche to Longwy 377m TDF2022 WorldTour on July 07 2022 in Longwy France Photo by Garnier Etienne PoolGetty Images
Van der Poel spent stage 6 at the back of the bunch (Image credit: Getty Images)

Mathieu van der Poel has suggested he will abandon the Tour de France if he doesn't soon show signs of improvement after a long day of suffering on the road to Longwy. 

The Dutch star has been below his swashbuckling best at this Tour, and his troubles have intensified in the past couple of days. After placing fifth in the opening time trial and then helping to set up sprints for Jasper Philipsen, Van der Poel was expected to come to the fore on the cobbles on Wednesday, but fell away with nearly 50km remaining. 

Patrick Fletcher

Patrick is a freelance sports writer and editor. He’s an NCTJ-accredited journalist with a bachelor’s degree in modern languages (French and Spanish). Patrick worked full-time at Cyclingnews for eight years between 2015 and 2023, latterly as Deputy Editor.