To invert Johan Cruyff’s old maxim, it seems that every advantage has its disadvantage. The absence of Wout van Aert and Tadej Pogačar makes Mathieu van der Poel the obvious favourite for Strade Bianche, but the Dutchman reckons it could also make the task of winning the race a little more complicated.
“It changes a bit. They’re two of the best riders we have, and they also have quite an aggressive racing style. If you have good legs and can follow them, it makes the race a bit easier,” Van der Poel said in a video released by his Alpecin-Deceuninck team on Friday. “But there are also other really good riders as well, so it’s going to be a tough one.”
Van der Poel’s assessment echoed that of team manager Christoph Roodhooft on Thursday evening. Pogačar misses Strade Bianche in order to ride Paris-Nice, while Van Aert opted to delay the start of his road season until Tirreno-Adriatico after losing some training days to illness last month.
“It’s a pity for the sport that they are not there, and for Mathieu it is sometimes even more difficult to race without them than with them,” Roodhooft told Sporza.
“If everything goes smoothly on a very good day, the weight will be on Mathieu's shoulders very quickly. If Wout and Tadej are there, then it is divided and then you often race easier.”
Despite their absence, Van der Poel won’t be short of competition in his first road race of the season, where the contenders include past winners Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep) and Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma), both of whom scored impressive victories last weekend at the Faun-Ardèche Classic and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, respectively.
Van der Poel has raced Strade Bianche just twice, placing 15th in the pandemic-delayed edition of 2020 before delivering one of the signature performances of his career by dropping Alaphilippe on the Via Santa Caterina to win in 2021.
“The way it went was quite special, it’s one of the victories I will remember for quite a bit. I hope I will have the legs to race aggressively again on Saturday,” said Van der Poel.
“Strade Bianche is difficult to predict, this is a race where a lot can happen, including with mechanicals. I just hope to have a good feeling in the race and then hopefully I can race aggressively again, like I want to. But I won’t panic if that’s the case.”
Twelve months ago, Van der Poel missed Strade Bianche due to a longstanding back injury, though he was quickly among the results once he belatedly started his road season at Milan-San Remo two weeks later, placing third on the Via Roma.
Despite feeling the lingering effects of that back injury at times over the winter, Van der Poel finished his cyclocross season with a fifth elite world title and he has enjoyed a smooth approach to the road campaign after a two-week stint at the Sycnrosfera hotel in Denia.
“It was the perfect build-up, actually,” Van der Poel said. “Of course, I would love to have a bit longer, but the way I divide my season makes it a bit difficult to have a really long preparation. I did everything that I wanted to do, and I feel ready for what’s coming, but I think I will need some racing to be really at my top level.”
In Van der Poel’s absence, Alpecin-Deceuninck have laboured in the first season at WorldTour level, and the Belgian squad is still to pick up a victory or even a podium finish in 2023. Van der Poel insisted that it would take “a couple of races” for him to get up to speed, but the expectation is that he will get the team off the mark during his time in Italy, when he will also race Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo.
“The season has only just begun and for us the biggest races are still to come,” Van der Poel said. “Opening Weekend wasn’t what we expected, but if it was always winning, it would be easy. It’s up to us to show that we can turn things around.”
