Tour de France 2025, Mathieu van der Poel's day has returned

At that time, Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof was looking for tranquility, so he wandered around for a long time in search of the best place to concentrate. After wandering for a few months, the rich lawyer Alfred César Joseph Eugène Michaux hosted him in his house in Boulogne-sur-mer and Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof understood that this was the right place. Because "magnificent is the spectacle that it offers to the eyes, fresh is the air that rises from the sea and mixes with the smells of the hinterland: a gift of absolute peace for the senses". He was looking for tranquility and peace to conclude his language of peace, Esperanto, his non-language that had to overcome "linguistic diversity, that is, the main cause that distances the human family and divides it into enemy factions".

In his speech at the first World Esperanto Congress, held in Boulogne-sur-mer in 1905, Alfred César Joseph Eugène Michaux described Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof as "a man animated by a vision, capable of enduring any hardship in order to realize that vision":

One hundred and twenty years later, it can be said that history has shown that Esperanto was not the best solution to achieve peace,

One hundred and twenty years later, however, on the streets of Boulogne-sur-mer appeared many men capable of enduring any hardship in order to realize their vision. They were all on a bicycle and there are those who in these one hundred and twenty years have emphasized how the bicycle is capable of exalting the virtues of men and is capable of promoting if not peace, at least hope and a message of peace.

Possible, but not at the Tour de France. At least not today towards the finish line of the second stage in Boulogne-sur-mer .

None of the riders in the group can say they understood why Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof had chosen that town to conclude his work. Certainly none of them experienced the peace of mind experienced by the Polish doctor and linguist. Because towards Boulogne-sur-mer, the organizers of the Tour de France had thought it would be a good thing to include some steep slopes like mountain paths and as tiring as certain bad thoughts. And a good thing it was for enthusiasts and fans, for those who watch from a sofa, comment and rejoice in the efforts of others. A little less for the riders. For almost all the riders. Not for those few who decided to transform every stretch of windy road and every little climb into an opportunity to free themselves from unwelcome company .

And so in the last ten kilometers of a stage that almost reached the seashore and where the highest point touched the dizzying altitude of 113 meters above sea level, Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel found themselves in front, looking at each other and smelling each other, trying to understand what the other's condition was . They pedaled on the côte de Saint-Étienne-au-Mont (a kilometer at 10.6 percent with a stretch that reaches 15 percent) as if they were on an amusement park, happy to have found themselves there in front. Next to them there were very few, in front of them Matteo Jorgenson, Vingegaard's teammate, dictating the pace, behind them Mathieu van der Poel controlling.

Tadej Pogacar watched Jonas Vingegaard watching Remco Evenepoel watching Tadej Pogacar. All three unsure whether to go for it, all three turning every now and then to see what Mathieu van der Poel was doing. Because the Dutchman is certainly not a man for big mountains, but on certain routes and certain climbs he is the man to beat.

And in fact no one managed to get ahead of Mathieu van der Poel under the finish banner. Not Remco Evenepoel who was not interested in the sprint. Not Jonas Vingegaard who finished in third place. Not Tadej Pogacar who stayed as close as possible but was unable to overtake him.

In Boulogne-sur-mer, Mathieu van der Poel found the joy of a Tour de France victory that he had been missing since 2021 , since that cry in memory of his grandfather Raymond Poulidor. He dressed in yellow and says he wants to keep the jersey as long as possible.

None of the other three seemed disheartened at not winning. You can't see the mountains from Boulogne-sur-mer, it was just one more opportunity waiting for the mountains. There will be more opportunities, this Tour de France is full of them .

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