Because of Pogacar and Evenepoel, Mathieu van der Poel is under no illusion of winning the 5 monuments: "At the moment it seems quite impossible to do so"
Cycling
Mathieu van der Poel is an absolute generational talent, perhaps overshadowed slightly by Tadej Pogacar... But the truth is that besides the seven cyclocross World titles and his achievements in Mountain Biking, he has now conquered his seventh monument. However, currently with riders like the World and Olympic champion, it will be hard to win the hilly or mountainous monuments such as Liège and Lombardia.
“Pogacar is one of the best ever. If you are a rider with his characteristics, nothing is impossible. Winning Liège and Lombardy seems impossible to me if Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel are at the start,” the Dutchman shared with La Derniere Heure. The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider could viably do this at some point in the future, taking into consideration other puncheurs have won the Italian monument, however currently it's a climbers' classic and there are world-class climbers who are above the rest.
“For the moment I am not focusing on this record. It’s not just about thinking about winning the five Monument Classics, but also about which riders you will face in the race. At the moment it seems quite impossible to do so, because it means thinking about winning against guys like them in races where they are almost unbeatable," he argues.
However this could certainly become one of his last big goals for a career that has had more success than 99% of riders could ever dream of. Van der Poel is already very close to making history in cyclocross if he wins the rainbow jersey one more time, and on the road one of the way he could potentially do the same is by winning the two that he has left.
"Winning them is not impossible, you have to prepare specifically," he continues. "It would certainly be nice to be able to win the five Monuments, but I know I have already won a lot and I can think about moving this objective forward".
However he does believe Tadej Pogacar, the rider who came the closest to beating him this Saturday, has the legs to succeed in doing this: “It is true that we have not yet seen him at Paris-Roubaix, but we have seen at the Tour de France that he is very good on the cobblestones. For this reason, I am convinced that he will be able to win it soon, even if he will have to decide to do it first. Instead, Milano - Sanremo is a race suited to him and therefore he will have other opportunities to win it.”
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