'Mathieu is going to be very hard to beat' – Tadej Pogačar sizes up main rival Van der Poel ahead of Monument rematch in Tour of Flanders
World champion not chasing 'revenge' in second face-off of the season against Dutchman, looks to avoid sprint finish into Oudenaarde
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) has insisted there are no feelings of wanting "revenge" against Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) at the Tour of Flanders on Sunday after losing to him at a Milan-San Remo for the ages almost two weeks ago.
The world champion arrived in Belgium on Tuesday evening, before completing a rapid recon of Paris-Roubaix on Wednesday, and speaking ahead to the press including Cyclingnews today ahead of his Monument rematch with the Dutchman in three days' time.
Pogačar outlined the strengths of the Dutchman, who he dropped on the Oude Kwaremont to win Flanders in 2023 but lost out to the year prior when he somehow finished fourth in a two-up sprint. The Slovenian was of course full of admiration for the three-time Ronde winner, but did point to ways he can try to beat him.
"I don't know why I would be bitter or looking for revenge when nobody did anything bad to me, so there is nothing about revenge," said Pogačar at the Parkhotel in Waregem on Thursday afternoon.
"In San Remo, he beat me quite good, but this is a different race. Flanders is a little bit more tiring, and it's going to be harder throughout the day. But it's his favourite terrain – cobbles and small climbs, so he's once again going to be very hard to beat.
"But I'm here to race for the victory, so I will give my best to try and win."
Cameras flashed and several members of the international press gathered to hear Pogačar's comments ahead of the Flemish main event in Flanders. He was sporting a fresh haircut and spoke with the same modesty as usual when asked to compare the two's best racing attributes.
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"He obviously can sprint better. He can go probably better on the cobbles, and he's better in technical parts," said Pogačar.
"Maybe I can be better after six hours, but he's in super good shape, so I think I should not count on this. I just try to get a little bit of a gap at some point in the race and try to use that.
"But there are so many opportunities, and options that can happen on Sunday, I just need to grab one and hope for the best."
Of course, Pogačar is more hopeful of dropping Van der Poel with the significantly overall harder 269km route on offer in Flanders. He managed it in 2023 but failed to do so in San Remo. In the latter, Van der Poel was far superior in the sprint, and Pogačar is hopeful it won't come down to that as it did on the Via Roma.
"In San Remo, you come quite fresh to Cipressa and Poggio and they're not really hard climbs – you go almost 40k per hour, so there's a lot of draft," said Pogačar,
"Here it can be different as you come more tired to some climbs. I can use that to my advantage, but like I said, with his shape right now, it's gonna be very tough.
"He's a good sprinter, one of the best in my opinion when he wants to. So I will try to not come like this into the sprint with him. If it happens, then I just try to do my best.
"It just needs to be a hard race, and maybe he's tired in the end, but I also will be so, but then the difference is maybe smaller, you never know."
Pogačar also made sure not to make the same mistake Visma-Lease a Bike did on Wednesday at Dwars door Vlaanderen and underestimate any of his opposition. He's well aware there will be more than just Van der Poel to compete with when the flag drops outside Bruges on Sunday, with Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Wout van Aert (Visma) and Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) all worthy Tour of Flanders contenders.
"There's also, not only Mathieu, it's also a lot of a lot of other teams that want to win here. They don't come for they don't want to come for second place," said the world champion.
"For sure, there's gonna be a lot of tactics in the into play on Sunday, a lot of attacks and different strategies from different teams. So I need to be careful for everything in the end."
Can Pogačar repeat his incredible display from San Remo but go one better and drop Van der Poel to win a second Ronde title?
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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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