Mathieu van der Poel: I'll lose sleep over Brabantse Pijl second place

OVERIJSE BELGIUM OCTOBER 07 Arrival Julian Alaphilippe of France and Team Deceuninck QuickStep Celebration Mathieu Van Der Poel of Netherlands and Team AlpecinFenix during the 60th Brabantse Pijl 2020 Men Elite a 197km race from Leuven to OverijseSchavei 106m La Flche Brabanonne BP20 on October 07 2020 in Overijse Belgium Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images
Mathieu van der Poel narrowly missed out on Brabantse Pijl victory to Julian Alaphilippe (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

Mathieu van der Poel narrowly failed to defend his Brabantse Pijl title on Wednesday, just losing out to world champion Julian Alaphilippe in a three-up sprint for the line in Overijse.

The Alpecin-Fenix leader was clearly the strongest in the race along with Alaphilippe, jumping away from the peloton multiple times on the hills that define the race.

Dani Ostanek
Senior News Writer

Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, joining in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Before joining the team, they had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur.

Dani has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, Road World Championships, and the spring Classics. They have interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Mathieu van der Poel, Demi Vollering, and Remco Evenepoel. Their favourite races are the Giro d'Italia, Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix.

Season highlights from the 2024 season include reporting from Paris-Roubaix –  'Unless I'm in an ambulance, I'm finishing this race' – Cyrus Monk, the last man home at Paris-Roubaix – and the Tour de France – 'Disbelief', gratitude, and family – Mark Cavendish celebrates a record-breaking Tour de France sprint win.