Giro d’Italia leader Mathieu van der Poel expects to surrender pink jersey on Mount Etna during Stage 4

ByLewis Mason

Published 09/05/2022 at 12:25 GMT

Mathieu van der Poel ended the Stage 3 11 seconds ahead of second-placed Simon Yates on GC but knows he faces a huge challenge to retain the pink jersey when the race resumes. The next stage sees riders take on a mountainous assault which sees them finish up Mount Etna. Stream the Giro d'Italia live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live on eurosport.co.uk

Giro d’Italia leader Mathieu van der Poel says he will make the most of wearing the pink jersey when the race resumes, as he does not expect to hold on to it for much longer.

The Dutch rider goes into the first Italian stage at the top of the leaderboard for his Alpecin-Fenix team having built up an 11-second advantage over Britain’s Simon Yates after the three stages in Hungary.

“It’s nice to wear the pink and nice to take the jersey to Italy. I have enjoyed the pink days in Hungary and I am going to enjoy them in Italy too,” he told NOS.

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The race resumes with a gruelling 166km mountain stage which finishes up Mount Etna in Sicily. Riders will face a 30km climb to end the stage which is where Van der Poel expects to lose the jersey.

“Normally it won’t be possible to keep the jersey up Etna. I’ll see how it goes and how I feel, but I don’t know how far I can go,” he said.

Assessing the next part of the race, the 27-year-old said, “I don’t think it’s possible (to keep the lead). Or they have to ride up very slowly, but I don’t expect that. We’ll see. We’re going to start and see where it ends up, but I’m expecting to lose time there.”

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On his debut at the Grand Tour, Van der Poel took victory on the opening day, before coming second on the day two time trial, coming in just three seconds behind Yates in Budapest.

During the third stage, he changed his priority to helping team-mate Jakub Mareczko take the win in the sprint, but the Italian could only manage a fifth-placed finish, with Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) romping home in first. Arnaud Demare (Groupama FDJ) came second, while Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) settled for third place.

Reflecting on the latest stage, Van der Poel said, “We did a good job as a team and drove a good lead-out, only Jakub lost my wheel at the roundabout. After that he got boxed in on the sprint, but he still has a good result. More was possible, but from my point of view it was locked in. That can happen in a sprint. But luckily we will have even more opportunities in the coming days."

Despite thinking it may soon be time to hand over the pink jersey, Van der Poel is hopeful of plenty more success in the Giro, adding, “I want to go for a stage win a few times. That I look forward to. There are still plenty of goals to come."

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Stream the Giro d'Italia live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live on eurosport.co.uk.

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