Van der Poel: Dauphiné Breakaway Falls Short | Cycling News
Mathieu van der Poel faced a brutal test at the Critérium du Dauphiné, calling stage 3 “one of the hardest days on the bike ever.” The Dutch cycling star, fresh off a wrist fracture and using the race to prepare for the Tour de France, found himself in a challenging breakaway. Iván Romeo ultimately secured the stage victory.Despite the tough conditions and a stacked field of general classification contenders, van der Poel showed his grit, even as victory slipped away. This performance highlights his drive for the upcoming Tour. News Directory 3 has the latest insights. What does van der Poel have up his sleeve for the stages to come?
Van der Poel Endures Grueling Stage at Dauphiné Criterium
Updated June 10, 2025
Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Deceuninck described stage 3 of the Dauphiné criterium as “one of the hardest days on the bike ever,” following a demanding 207km ride from Brioude to Charantonnay. The assessment comes from a cyclist renowned for dominating major cycling monuments.
Van der Poel was active early, contributing to a 13-rider breakaway that formed during a fast-paced opening hour of climbing, sparked by Louis Barré of Intermarché-Wanty. However, victory eluded the Dutch star.
Despite seeking his first WorldTour stage win since the 2022 Giro d’italia, Van der Poel couldn’t perfectly time a late attack. Iván Romeo of Movistar ultimately seized the opportunity and soloed to victory.
Still recovering from a recent wrist fracture, Van der Poel is using the Critérium du Dauphiné to sharpen his form ahead of the Tour de France, which begins in less than a month. He finished fifth in stage 3, adding to his earlier third-place finishes in stages 1 and 2.
“It was one of the hardest days on the bike I’ve ever had,” van der Poel told CyclingProNet. “We have 45 kilometers per hour average,3000 altitude metres,that says enough,I think.”
he added, “Again, I’m super happy with the shape actually, but itS difficult to win in this position as well, everything needs to be 100% correct, and it was a bit of a gamble but a really nice day out ther.”
Van der Poel emphasized the importance of such challenging days for his planning. “For the shape, it’s critically important to have hard days like this; it’s impossible to recreate them in training, so that’s why I’m here.”
The breakaway group included several general classification contenders, notably Florian Lipowitz of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, prompting teams like soudal-QuickStep, Visma-Lease a Bike, and UAE Team Emirates-XRG to closely monitor the situation.
These teams, working for Remco Evenepoel, Jonas Vingegaard, and tadej Pogačar respectively, ensured the breakaway’s advantage remained tight, often under two minutes.
Van der Poel noted the difficulty of the stage, marked by salt stains on his jersey.In the final push, he appeared to lack the energy to respond to Romeo’s decisive attack, having already countered numerous earlier moves.
“It was a lot of riders looking at me, but, of course, you also need to look at the other riders if you want to win the stage,” said Van der Poel.
“It’s not up to me to react to every single attack, so that was the gamble in the end. I responded to several, but not all of them.”
He added that the presence of Lipowitz in the breakaway limited their advantage, but he was pleased to gain points and extend his lead in the green jersey competition.
What’s next
Van der Poel will continue to use the Critérium du Dauphiné to build form and test his wrist ahead of the Tour de France.