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Mathieu van der Poel fulfilled his late grandfather Raymond Poulidor’s lifetime dream when he claimed the Tour de France yellow jersey following a stunning win in the second stage on Sunday.
The Dutchman produced a brutal acceleration with 700 metres left in the final ascent to Mur de Bretagne to beat defending champion Tadej Pogacar and his fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic, who were second and third respectively, six seconds behind.
Having also picked up eight bonus seconds in the first of two ascents to Mur de Bretagne, Van der Poel took the overall leader’s yellow jersey from France’s Julian Alaphilippe and now heads the world champion by eight seconds.
What did you think when crossing the line?
“I thought of my Granddad of course” ♥️À quoi tu as pensé quand tu as franchi la ligne ?
“À mon grand-père bien sûr” ♥️#TDF2021 pic.twitter.com/V4uieKoQIv— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) June 27, 2021
Poulidor, France’s most popular cyclist, never wore the coveted jersey in 14 participations in the Tour between 1962-76, winning seven stages and finishing eight times on the podium.
Van der Poel had set his sights on the jersey as the profile of the first two stages suited his qualities, but was powerless against Alaphilippe in Saturday’s first stage, finishing eight seconds off the pace.
He made up for the lost time on Sunday by grabbing the bonus seconds in the first climb to Mur de Bretagne (2km at 6.9%) and completed his mission on the second ascent.
(REUTERS)
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