Besides the GC showdown on the cobblestones, Wednesday's fifth stage of the Tour de France provided a rare opportunity for the stars of the classics to battle it out in a different spring than usual.

Mathieu Van Der Pol (Alpecin-Desseuninck) and Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) were expected to battle it out on the 157 km from Lille to Arenberg, but things were not so easy. Van der Pol dropped out of the lead group 38 km before the finish, and Van Aert went off to help GC leader Jonas Vingegaard.

While there were many accidents to reflect on, Van der Pol's result for the day was perhaps the most surprising.

"I actually haven't been feeling very well the last few days," he said. Yesterday it became clear that I didn't have the legs that I had hoped for." I will have to be much better than I was yesterday to be in contention for the championship."

The form did not come for the Dutchman in the following hours, as he later suffered a puncture and dropped out of Van Aert's chase group, finishing 81st, 3:48 behind stage winner Simon Clark.

"Not very positive. Instead of getting better today, it got worse," Van der Pol reflected after the stage. 'I'm overshadowed and frustrated with myself right now. I don't know what's going on. I'm just not up to speed at the moment."

"I didn't realize it yet on the Danish stage, but I already felt like I wasn't racing with any extra power. When you start racing hard, you're really at your limit."

Van der Pol finished fifth in the Copenhagen time trial and started the race with a positive result, even though he thought it was below his level. After completing his first Grand Tour at the Giro d'Italia, he headed to the Tour after a month away from racing.

"I wanted to have a better day," he said. But I sensed right away that the weather wasn't going to change. I haven't had the legs I wanted since the time trial. Otherwise it would be a long Tour."

"I was good in the Giro, but not outstanding. Except for the last week before the Tour, my preparation for the Tour was not very good. It was also positive, but not so much before that."

Thursday's sixth stage will be a hilly ride in the southern Ardennes near the Belgian border. However, it appears that he and Tour will have to wait until later in the race for him to get up to speed.

"For some time now I haven't reached the level I want to reach. The only prospect now is to keep running like this and hope to get better later."