Adrie van der Poel eyes the arrival of more challengers for his son: "It can only make things more interesting"
Cycling
Mathieu van der Poel was again in a league of his own during E3 Saxo Classic. A crash in the early stages of the race shook up the cards a bit, but eventually the Dutchman prevailed in a dominant fashion with a 39-kilometer solo. His father Adrie van der Poel notes that Mathieu has already achieved enough to call 2025 a good year.
"From what I saw, it was a very hard race," Adrie begins his analysis at WielerFlits. "That was mainly because of that crash. It could have gone the other way there. But eventually that group came back, after which it was every man for himself in the truth zone. I think that the better riders were then able to ride away."
Among those better riders was Mathieu van der Poel again. The leader of Alpecin-Deceuninck is clearly in top form. "Of course that doesn’t go away in a few days," Adrie points out that his son won Milano-Sanremo last Saturday. "And these are races that he likes to do. The spring for him and the team is already good. What’s added is only nice. The nice thing is that they just follow their own tactics and look at other teams as little as possible."
With the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, the two biggest races are still coming up. Right? "No, they are not the two biggest races, because we have already had one of the biggest races," Adrie refers again to Sanremo. "They are also different races, which are longer (than the E3 Saxo Classic, ed.). Especially in Roubaix, luck also plays a role. There are a few other riders coming (Tadej Pogacar, for example, ed.), so that can only make it more interesting."
Can anyone put Mathieu under pressure?
According to Adrie, his son's spring has already been a success. "He doesn't need to do it anymore. He could play a decisive role. I think Flanders will be more difficult, but on the other hand you have Pogacar's team, who are putting everything on one leader."
Second best rider at today's E3 was Mads Pedersen but he was nowehere near keeping up with Van der Poel like he was able to last year at Gent Wevelgem. "I also thought Pedersen was very good and I expect him to be even better next week. Especially when you know that he was sick before Milan-Sanremo. That's an extra team."
And then there was one team completely behind expectations - Wout Van Aert's Team Visma | Lease a Bike. Adrie van der Poel expects the Dutch formation to bounce back in the coming weeks despite lesser start. "They are coming down from that mountain now, but I expect them to be a lot better next week too. Then I expect them to be at the front too."
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - He is boring
leedorney08-11-2026 - To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
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parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
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