Why is Mathieu van der Poel in the yellow jersey at the Tour de France when he’s tied on time with Tadej Pogačar?

by July 8, 2025

written by July 8, 2025

Fans might have been puzzled to see Mathieu van der Poel step onto the podium of the Tour de France in the yellow jersey after stage four, rather than the man who had just won, Tadej Pogačar.

It was all because of a little-used rule called count-back, meaning Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Van der Poel will remain in the race lead for a third day, while Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates-XRG will have to wait a bit longer to get his hands back on the maillot jaune he has worn so many times before.

Is that clear? In the four stages so far, Van der Poel has finished 28th, first, 23rd, and second, which adds up to 54. Meanwhile, his Slovenian counterpart has finished 18th, second, 71st, and first, which adds up to 92. That’s why Pogačar remains in second overall – if he had finished 39 places higher on stage three to Dunkirk, then he would be in yellow for Wednesday’s stage five, rather than the Dutchman who is currently on top.

It’s not the only competition that Pogačar and Van der Poel are tied in – the pair are currently both on 80 points in the green jersey classification, in third and fourth. The rulebook says tied riders “are separated by their number of stage wins and then by their number of wins in the intermediate sprints that count towards the points classification, and, finally, by their ranking in the general classification”.

The pair are both on five points. This time, the reason for Pogačar nudging ahead is a bit more complicated. The rule books says: “In the event of two riders being equal on points in the best climber classification, the rider with the most first places at the summit of super-category passes or climbs or summit finishes will be declared the winner. If the riders are still tied, first places taken on category 1 passes or climbs or summit finishes will be used to split them. It follows that first places taken at the summit of category 2 passes or climbs, category 3 passes or climbs or summit finishes, or category 4 passes or climbs can also be used to break a tie, with the general classification used a last resort.”

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Why is Mathieu van der Poel in the yellow jersey at the Tour de France when he’s tied on time with Tadej Pogačar?

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