Mathieu van der Poel will not start today’s Tour stage to Mont Ventoux. The Dutch rider is suffering from pneumonia and cannot continue his race. This was announced by Alpecin-Deceuninck.
"Mathieu had been experiencing symptoms of a common cold over the past few days," the team press release begins. "Yesterday afternoon, his condition began to worsen significantly. The team doctor monitored him closely throughout the day. By the evening, Mathieu developed a fever and was taken to the ‘Centre Hospitalier de Narbonne’ for further examinations."
"Medical tests revealed that Mathieu is suffering from pneumonia. In consultation with the medical staff, it was decided that he can no longer continue the race. His health is the top priority, and rest and recovery are now essential."
End of a successful Tour
Van der Poel stated before the start of the fifteenth stage on Sunday that he was not feeling completely fit. "I’ve been struggling a bit in the last few days," he said then. We still saw him in the day's breakaway, but from that large front group, he had to drop off early. His condition did not improve during the rest day but actually worsened, leading to his withdrawal.
Despite his early abandonment, Van der Poel has already had a successful Tour de France. He won stage two, took one second place and one third place. Furthermore, he stole the spotlight by frequently joining early breakaways. In doing so, he collected valuable points for the green jersey: after Sunday, he was third with 210 points. Jonathan Milan (251 points) leads the classification, ahead of Tadej Pogacar (223).
