The 31-year-old Dutchman, a former world champion, won a sprint amongst his three breakaway companions with Tobias Johannessen taking second and Tom Pidcock third.
“It was a super hard day. The start of the Tour was not great for our team, but I think, like always, we stayed calm,” he said.
“We have a really nice group here and we kept believing that it will turn around. But it’s really nice to go to the first rest day with a win.”
Having worked as a sprint lead-out man for his Alpecin Premier Tech team-mate Jasper Philipsen – who had finished fourth and fifth in the sprint stages – in the previous two days, Van der Poel finally had a chance to go for a stage win for himself.
Reigning champion Tadej Pogacar came home in the chasing peloton six seconds behind the winner to maintain his lead in the overall standings ahead of Monday’s first rest day.
The four-time champion leads two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard by 2min 42sec with Mexican Isaac del Toro a further 45sec back.
Van der Poel, a three-time winner of both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix — the two most important one-day cobbled classics — had previously won Tour stages in 2021 and 2025.
And although he won a record eighth cyclocross world title earlier in the year, this season had not gone to plan.
It was the first year since 2021 that Van der Poel had failed to win one of the prestigious Monument one-day classics, although he did claim the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and E3 Saxo Bank classics.
“It’s only my third victory so it shows how hard it is for me to win a stage in the Tour,” said Van der Poel.
“It will always be special to win one. Sometimes, it looks really easy because in the past seasons we (Alpecin) always succeeded in winning a Monument or winning sprints in a Tour, but we know that it will not always come that easy.
“That’s also why we just keep working and keep believing in it and we do our best. That’s all we can do.” (AFP)
