"Sometimes I just need to be patient": Van der Poel regains feelings in Switzerland

After two discreet days and far from the top positions, Mathieu van der Poel left the first positive signs in the 2026 Tour de Suisse on Friday. The Dutchman from Alpecin-Deceuninck finished fifth at the finish in Bad Ragaz and, although he could not fight for the stage victory, he left much more satisfied with the sensations regained on the bike than with the result itself.

Mathieu van der Poel starts to find sensations in the Tour de Suisse: “Sometimes I have to be a little patient”

The stage was marked by the victory of Jhonatan Narváez after resisting alongside Xandro Meurisse the peloton's chase attempt. Van der Poel had to settle for contesting the sprint for the honor positions, but at least he showed himself to be active for a large part of the day.

The Dutch champion initially tried to break away in the day's escape, although he soon found that his rivals were not willing to give him any freedom.

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“They reacted quite harshly every time I tried to get away. So I quickly decided to save energy and bet on the sprint. It’s a shame we got so close.”

In the final kilometers, he also did not find the necessary space to finish the job.

“I got a bit boxed in during the sprint, so I couldn’t get out well. In any case, it wouldn’t have changed anything for the victory. In the end, we got quite close. With about twenty kilometers to go, I had already lost hope of catching them.”

Beyond the result, Van der Poel highlighted that for the first time in the race he felt competitive again. The milder temperatures and the rain that accompanied much of the stage clearly played in his favor.

“Today the sensations were much better than in the first days. Also, it was less hot. That made me feel much better right away. I am satisfied with the day. In the climbs at the start of the stage, I was able to keep up without any problem.”

This is not the first time the Dutchman has acknowledged that high temperatures affect him more than usual, and the first days of the Tour de Suisse were held under intense heat that complicated his performance.

Van der Poel also pointed to another possible reason to explain why he had not yet found his best version. The Alpecin-Premier Tech rider arrives in Switzerland after completing a particularly demanding training camp with his teammates in preparation for the Tour de France.

“Things went worse than I expected. We also did a very tough training camp. We worked very well as a team. Everything went well there, but maybe I was still feeling its effects. Sometimes I just have to be a little patient.”

 

 

 

 

 

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His words reinforce the idea that the Tour de Suisse is being primarily used as a preparation for the big goal in July, rather than as a race to seek immediate results.

Last tests before the Tour de France

With few opportunities left to fight for a partial victory in the Swiss general classification, Van der Poel will face the remaining two days as an opportunity to continue fine-tuning his form.

Especially important will be the time trial, a discipline to which he has dedicated more preparation time in recent weeks due to the team time trial that will open the next Tour de France in Barcelona.

The Dutchman made it clear that he does not intend to take the chrono as a mere formality.  “The plan is to give it my all again on Saturday. We’ll see how I feel.”

After a start to the race below expectations, the fifth place in Bad Ragaz does not change the sporting balance of the Tour de Suisse for Van der Poel, but it does provide him with something perhaps more important two weeks before the Tour: the feeling that his legs are starting to respond.