Must "be better". Not many bike riders draw that conclusion after winning a Classic, but Mathieu van der Poel knows what - and more importantly who - is coming up on Sunday.
The Dutchman won Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday with another performance that made a mockery of the logic that a rider who hadn’t done a road race in six months might need some time to get up to speed.
After finishing on the podium at Milan-San Remo and then winning a stage at Coppi e Bartali last week, Van der Poel touched down in Belgium and made a major statement ahead of the Tour of Flanders on Sunday.
“I’m just happy to win today,” the Alpecin-Fenix rider said in his post-race press conference. “It means a lot just to be at the highest level. I worked really hard for it. It gives me confidence as well that I’m back.”
But Van der Poel didn’t dwell long on his victory. He won this race in his breakthrough spring of 2019 and you sense that the title alone means relatively little. Dwars door Vlaanderen was always going to be assessed with an eye on Sunday, and Van der Poel believes there’s still ground to make up.
“I was really good but not like completely recovered, I think, from Coppi. I felt something was still in the legs. For sure I was really good today but I hope to be a bit better on Sunday. I think it needs to be better.”
As for why it needs to be better, Van der Poel swatted aside the likes of Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma) and Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) on Wednesday but he knows a host of Tour of Flanders contenders chose to skip the mid-week hit-out. In particular, there was no Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), who has been the outstanding rider of the spring so far, as evidenced by his dominant E3 victory last week.
“We saw how strong he was,” Van der Poel said of his old rival. “I’ve raced against him all my life so I know how my shape has to be to follow him, and I think it needs to be a bit better. I’m quite confident with a few days of rest it will be.”
In any case, Van Aert is not operating alone. Benoot, who Van der Poel beat in the two-up sprint in Waregem, has been an inspired new signing for the Dutch team, and the same goes for Christophe Laporte, who was second at both E3 and Gent-Wevelgem.
“It’s going to be difficult. They have three or four guys who can win the Ronde, so it’s up to my teammates as well to be there at the front and react to attacks.”
While Van der Poel says he could do with a bit of rest, there is also the question of endurance when it comes to a 250km Monument on such attritional terrain as the Flemish Ardennes. For someone who has only done seven race days this season, there is still a question mark.
“That’s the main issue,” he acknowledged. “I did it at Milan-San Remo of course but that’s a totally diff race. Maybe it was good to do today to have a real race in the legs before Flanders. In the last months I did everything I could to be in the best possible shape for Sunday and I succeeded - even better than expected. I will try to battle for the win on Sunday.”
