Can Mathieu van der Poel match Pogacar and Evenepoel in Zurich? “I hope I can give them a good fight"

Mathieu van der Poel has done everything he could to arrive at the World Championships with the best possible form and a little bit less weight; because this Sunday he has the hard task of matching Tadej Pogacar in a route that is well suited to the climbers and the Dutchman will definitely be a fish out of water.

“It is a difficult race. It is certainly quite tough on the Zürichbergstrasse. After that, it continues to climb steeply to the top. The second part is easier, but we have already seen in the other categories that it is a tough race," the reigning World Champion said in a pre-race interview. A hard race awaits him, one that is very long which is good for him, however it features more climbing that what he would hope for.

When faced with generational riders such as Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel, we will need to see the very best van der Poel for him to even have a chance at defending his title. “I hope I can give them a good fight. They have an advantage on this course, but the World Championship can be a strange race. We will see what the day brings.”

It has been talked that he may try to anticipate attacks from the other main favourites instead of trying to defend himself, but this is not a fixed tactic, he finally shares: “It depends on the race situation whether I will anticipate. Maybe I will. If it helps me, why not. However, if Slovenia and Belgium race hard from the start, then there is no point.”