"I just smiled the first five kilometers": Van der Poel and Rickaert explain the breakaway that no one understood

The stage of the Tour de France in Châteauroux left one of the most talked-about images of this edition: a long and brave breakaway signed by Mathieu van der Poel and Jonas Rickaert. They rode throughout the day at an average speed of over 50 km/h, in an adventure that surprised everyone for its intensity and apparent lack of competitive sense. But reality, as so often, was much simpler and more human.

A breakaway out of friendship: Van der Poel and Rickaert star in the most emotional escape of the Tour

"There was no secret tactic, no team goal. Jonas wanted to step on the Tour podium at least once in his life, so we came up with this action to try to achieve it," confessed Mathieu Van der Poel at the end of the stage. The Dutchman resisted until the last 650 meters before being neutralized by the peloton, in a titanic effort that did not bring him glory, but did earn him the respect of the peloton.

Remco Evenepoel, teammate of Merlier (the stage winner), approached Van der Poel to apologize for thwarting his attempt: "We couldn't let the victory slip away with Merlier," he said.

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For his part, Jonas Rickaert, 31 years old, offered a more extensive and emotional version of the day. "It was a very tough day, but also very special. It all started almost as a joke. On Saturday we said that if we managed to get into a breakaway, we would take turns every five minutes, maintaining a certain power to try to wear out the group. And that's what we did, until the end."

They barely spoke during the race, but Rickaert did remember what he thought when he saw his friend launching with him: "When I saw that Mathieu was also coming, I asked myself: 'Where do we think we're going to end up?'".

Finally, this huge effort paid off and Rickaert stepped onto the podium as the most combative cyclist of the day. "I have fulfilled my life goal of stepping on the Tour podium at least once!"