Mathieu van der Poel's yellow Canyon commemorates grandfather Poulidor with an emotional message

"Yellow was not meant to be till now" remembers late grandfather Raymond Poulidor's Tour record

Van der Poel yellow Canyon
(Image credit: Canyon)

Rarely has a Tour de France race leader’s yellow bike had as much significance as the Canyon Aeroad CFR presented to Mathieu van der Poel for the start of stage three.

The 26-year-old Dutchman’s grandfather, Raymond Poulidor, never wore the yellow jersey and was known as the ‘eternal second’ after finishing second or third in eight of the 14 Tours he rode.

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Simon Smythe

Simon Smythe is a hugely experienced cycling tech writer, who has been writing for Cycling Weekly since 2003. Until recently he was our senior tech writer. In his cycling career Simon has mostly focused on time trialling with a national medal, a few open wins and his club's 30-mile record in his palmares. These days he spends most of his time testing road bikes, or on a tandem doing the school run with his younger son.