TakeWorlds3 weeks ago
Van der Poel attacked from the gun on stage 5 of Tour de Luxembourg 2026 and rode alone for virtually all 177 kilometres, winning by over a minute. He entered the day 9:45 down on GC with nothing to gain there — this was pure Worlds intensity work, not a result he needed.
He'd said as much days earlier: «I am going to need the intensity. I have focused heavily on endurance training, so here I am really looking for those intensive efforts.» A 175 km solo effort delivers exactly that in a way no training block can simulate. Davide Piganzoli of Visma-Lease a Bike still took the overall win, but the stage was never about the classification — it was a one-week countdown to Montréal.
Sources
Analysed 2 sources, written and summarised with AI · How we work