'It was clear that Tadej was the strongest' – Mathieu van der Poel makes no excuses in defeat to Pogačar at Tour of Flanders as team reveal pre-race illness

OUDENAARDE, BELGIUM - APRIL 06: (L-R) Mathieu Van Der Poel of Netherlands and Team Alpecin - Deceuninck and Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia and Team UAE Team Emirates - XRG compete during the 109th Ronde van Vlaanderen - Tour des Flandres 2025 - Men's Elite a 269km one day race from Bruges to Oudenaarde / #UCIWT / on April 06, 2025 in Oudenaarde, Belgium. (Photo by Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceunick) made no excuses after losing the Tour of Flanders to "clearly stronger" Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), despite crashing at high speed during the race and his revealing that illness had affected his trainiing. 

The Dutchman appeared to be ill as he spoke after winning the E3 Saxo Classic, but played down what he thought then was "just a blocked nose." 

James Moultrie
News Writer

James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.

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