"Be sure that Mathieu will go along with Wout's teammates" - Tom Boonen anticipates Tour of Flanders will explode before Koppenberg

Tom Boonen is a former winner of the Tour des Flanders and he knows all the roads like the back of his hand. Having into consideration the depth of Jumbo-Visma he anticipates the Dutch team will try to attack early on, but he believes Mathieu van der Poel will look to respond to many attacks.

"I think Mathieu will do what he always does: look at no one and ride his own course," Boonen said in the Wielerclub Wattage podcast. "If you don't have a strong team yourself, you have to use the best team. And Mathieu is good at that. There will be times when Benoot or Laporte will try to force things so that it doesn't come to a standstill for the Koppenberg. Be sure that Mathieu will go along with Wout's teammates."

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Last year Tadej Pogacar attacked at the Koppenberg and exploded the race. The same can happen this year, and with the ascent being positioned 45 kilometers from the finish, a big attack there could end the aspirations of many teams to use their depth. Jumbo-Visma come in with that strategy exactly, as they feature Tiesj Benoot, Christophe Laporte and Nathan van Hooydonck who are all outsiders for the race. The Dutch team is likely to attack hard much before the ascent so that they are able to carry several riders for afterwards.

On the contrary, Boonen believes Pogacar and van der Poel must respond and not let Jumbo have the upper hand in these moments. "In the Ronde there are many possible key moments, which you cannot possibly predict all of now. But Mathieu is very strong at that, as is Tadej by the way," he concluded.