Adrie van der Poel has clear favourite for Paris-Roubaix: "Wout van Aert is the big favorite for me"

Adrie van der Poel has seen Mathieu put on a strong performance this Sunday at the Tour of Flanders, but one which wasn't enough to take the win. He acknowledges how Tadej Pogacar was superior and already talks about Paris-Roubaix and it's contenders.

"Mathieu was good, but he had already indicated that. Maybe he had a lesser moment when Pogacar went, but they had already closed for almost three minutes. One had already done a little more than the other there," Adrie van der Poel said following his son's second place at the Tour of Flanders. "He rides a very strong Paterberg. After that he doesn't lose very much either, he came back a bit at the end. All in all, I don't think we should discuss, the best rider just won. And we mustn't forget: they also feel that they rode so fast in those first hours."

Van der Poel launched the attack on the Kruisberg that dropped Wout van Aert, but afterwards he himself was distanced at the Oude Kwaremont, eventually crossing the line in second. His win in Milano-Sanremo, as well as Jasper Philipsen and Kaden Groves' wins since the start of March have dramatically improved the team's results sheets.

“If you look at the results, the team is not doing so badly. That has mainly to do with knowing what you can and what you can't do, knowing how to live up to such a competition. The rest is then secondary," he argues. Now up to pace, the team hunts more big wins, and the classics are the main field to pursue that.

"Wout van Aert is the big favorite for me. That race suits him much better," van der Poel senior said of Paris-Roubaix. "We know his weaknesses. We also know his strengths: you can ride him off, but never completely. But we know where to get it. And those are things that are not going to happen in Roubaix."

"The team must try to find a solution to this, how we can bring out the best in the team. We also have a lot of sick people, but every team will have that. That's what you have to deal with. In the end they are allowed to go home with their heads held high; they are riding a fantastic spring," he concluded.