Why Mathieu van der Poel leads the Tour de France on count-back tiebreaker despite being level with Pogačar

Fans might have expected Tadej Pogačar to pull on yellow after winning stage 4 of the 2025 Tour de France, but it was Mathieu van der Poel who retained the maillot jaune – despite both riders being level on time after four stages.

Under Tour de France rules, when two riders are tied on overall time, a tiebreaker is used to determine the race leader. Since there has not yet been a time trial to provide hundredths of a second, organisers turned to finish positions as the deciding factor.

Across the first four days, Van der Poel’s stage finishes (28th, 1st, 23rd, 2nd) added up to 54, compared to Pogačar’s (18th, 2nd, 71st, 1st) total of 92. That means Van der Poel kept the yellow jersey on tiebreaker criteria heading into the stage 5 time trial in Caen, despite Pogačar having taken two stage wins to his one.

This short-lived advantage is expected to disappear on Wednesday. As Van der Poel admitted: “I rode one time on my TT bike after Dauphiné, so we will see, but if we are being realistic, it will be my last day in yellow tomorrow. That’s OK, I enjoyed it.”

Photo Credit: Getty

Van der Poel also missed the chance to win in yellow, having been outsprinted by Pogačar on the uphill run-in to Rouen. “I was a little bit disappointed crossing the finish because I really would have loved to win in the yellow jersey, but I think it’s not a shame to lose to Tadej on this parcours,” he said.

For Pogačar, the Rouen victory marked his 100th career win. “To win at the Tour is incredible, and in this jersey, even more, and to have a 100th victory is amazing,” he said. He’ll now look to take the race lead outright in the time trial, though added: “To have already won a stage in this jersey, for me, it’s enough. I will go in tomorrow to enjoy this race.”

As things stand, Pogačar also leads the mountains classification – again on a tiebreaker, this time over Tim Wellens. The two UAE teammates both sit on five points, but Pogačar has more first places on category 3 climbs.

The green jersey is another classification with a tie. Van der Poel and Pogačar are both on 80 points, but Pogačar trails due to having fewer wins in intermediate sprints. These fine margins are keeping Van der Poel ahead – for now. Stage 5’s time trial should bring clearer gaps and end the reliance on Tour de France tiebreakers.

Main photo credit: A.S.O.