Mathieu van der Poel ready for Flanders battle with Tadej Pogacar, says “I will absolutely have to

Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar will go into the Tour of Flanders as equal favourites, but the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider has punched the table once more, winning the E3 Saxo Classic in impressive form.

However, it did not come easily. “At the beginning, I was involved in an incident, and some teams felt it was necessary to take advantage of it. I want to thank all my teammates for their excellent work. I was very motivated and felt a bit obligated to finish”. Alpecin did a lot of work, and it turned out to all be worth it. By the time the race’s important attacks came about the Dutchman looked isolated, but he didn’t need the support either.

On the Taaienberg, still with 80 kilometers to go, Mads Pedersen’s attack split the race to bits, leaving team tactics out of the equation. “In recent years, the decision has never really been made on the Taaienberg, but we immediately had a good gap, with Ganna and an impressive Pedersen. I knew right away that we would go far with this group.” Filippo Ganna also followed, and five riders at the head of the race collaborated well enough to leave everyone else far behind. Then when it came to the moment of winning the race, it only required one attack to make the difference.

“I had then planned to make a selection on the Oude Kwaremont, so as not to end up with five riders. But I know, since last year, how difficult it is,” he said – however, he did seem to drop his rivals with ease. “The wind was against us again towards the finish. It was very long, but the reward is great. I’m very happy to have won”. A win with over a minute over Mads Pedersen means his form is as high as it could pretty much, and ready to fight for another victory in De Ronde.

“I always try to be in the best shape for the Tour of Flanders. There will be a certain Tadej. I will absolutely have to be in shape to beat him, but I think I did everything to be in the best possible position at the start,” van der Poel believes. “Now we have to wait until next week”.