WorldTour Weekend Wrap-Up: Mathieu van der Poel at the Tour of Britain
MVDP says his victory was a surprise
VAN DER POEL TAKES THE VICTORY AT THE TOUR OF BRITAIN
Highly-rated Dutch cyclist Mathieu van der Poel underlined his dominance of the Tour of Britain by winning the eighth and final stage on Saturday to seal his overall victory. The 24-year-old — the junior world road race champion in 2013 — won his second successive stage. Van der Poel edged out compatriot Cees Bol in a sprint finish after 103 miles from Altrincham to Manchester.
Italian Matteo Trentin, who finished second overall, 17 seconds adrift of van der Poel but won the points jersey, finished third in the stage.
Van der Poel’s family is cycling royalty. His father Adri was crowned world champion in 1996 and his grandfather Raymond Poulidor was three-times a Tour de France runner-up.
“Coming into the Tour of Britain I did not really think that winning the race was possible because of the time trial as I had not done one in a really long time,” said van der Poel, who won the Amstel Gold race earlier this year.
“After the time trial I started to believe I could win overall. Today was harder than I thought it would be.”
MORE RACING NEWS
Comments are closed.