"At a certain point, I really started believing in it again": Tom Dumoulin praises Van der Poel's impossible Paris-Roubaix chase

Paris-Roubaix is famous for destroying the hopes of the biggest favorites in the blink of an eye, and that is exactly what happened to Mathieu van der Poel today. After suffering a double puncture in Arenberg, he faced a huge time gap that seemed impossible to close. However, instead of quitting, he launched an incredible solo chase that left fans and experts completely speechless. Even former professional star Tom Dumoulin admitted that the Dutch star almost pulled off the greatest comeback in modern cycling history.

The drama started in the worst possible place: the legendary Forest of Arenberg. He suffered a flat tire twice, losing huge amounts of time while his rivals pushed the pace hard at the front of the race. Very quickly, his gap to the leaders grew to two full minutes.

Sitting in the broadcast booth for the Dutch television network NOS, cycling analyst and former Giro d'Italia winner Tom Dumoulin thought the race was completely over for the top favorite. "Then we all think: he is never going to get back into the race," Dumoulin explained to the viewers. "Just give it up, so to speak."

Things got even worse when Van der Poel tried to take a spare bike from his teammate Jasper Philipsen. In a highly stressful moment, the world champion discovered a major problem with the equipment he was handed. "Philipsen's bike apparently has different prototype pedals. Very clumsy," Dumoulin noted about the chaotic scene.

Even though the situation looked completely hopeless, the Dutch superstar simply refused to surrender. Instead of dropping out or riding slowly to the velodrome, Van der Poel decided to fight back. He put his head down and started a massive solo chase over the dusty French farm roads. "But he keeps going and fighting for it. That is really commendable," Dumoulin said.

Riding with huge power, Van der Poel began jumping from one dropped group of riders to the next. He passed tired competitors one by one, slowly eating into the massive time gap. What looked like a totally impossible mission suddenly started to look like a real threat to the leaders. Even Dumoulin found himself caught up in the excitement of the chase. "Eventually he threatens to come back to the front of the race," Dumoulin admitted. "At a certain point, I really started believing in it again."

The former world champion managed to get incredibly close to the front group. By the time he reached the famous and brutal cobblestones of the Carrefour de l'Arbre, the massive two-minute gap had melted down to just twenty seconds. He could almost see Pogacar and Van Aert through the dust ahead of him.

However, making up that much time completely on your own requires a massive amount of physical energy. The huge effort of his long solo chase finally caught up to him exactly when the final battle for the victory started. "He had very little help from teammates, because they were already helping him in Arenberg," Dumoulin analyzed.

In the end, his incredible fighting spirit did not result in a magical victory. Still, Dumoulin believes that the world champion did exactly what he had to do. In a race as unpredictable as the Hell of the North, quitting is never the right choice.

"You have no choice but to ride full gas to the finish and just see what is still up for grabs," the former professional rider concluded. "You never know what will happen in Paris-Roubaix."