“He drives a little less aggressively,” commentator Martin Hersman concluded. “He doesn’t have the legs.”
With those bad legs, Van der Poel drove to the winning time: 6.04.29. However, he did not reach the fifteen-year-old track record of Sven Kramer (6.03.32). After his race, Van der Poel lay exhausted on the ground in the middle area for minutes.
‘I lost faith’
The gap with the competition present was still more than five seconds. Italian Davide Ghiotto finished second in the last stage (6.09.34). Ted-Jan Bloemen took the bronze (6.09.52).
“I was here to drive under 6 minutes,” Van der Poel confirmed after his race. “What went wrong then?” Van der Poel sighed deeply after that logical question.
Watch the interview with Van der Poel below.
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