Daniel Mangeas praises Mathieu van der Poel's performance: "The best were up front and Mathieu managed to knock them out"

Close friend of Raymond Poulidor, the grandfather of the new wearer of the rainbow jersey, the voice of cycling in France knew Mathieu van der Poel very young and therefore inevitably has a particular affection towards the story. Daniel Mangeas talks about that in his column for Cyclism'Actu.

"I thought a lot about Raymond and I imagined what he could have said if he had been in front of his television screen. Especially since, in my opinion, it's one of the greatest World Championships we've experienced. I put it in the line of Bernard Hinault in Sallanches. The best were up front and Mathieu managed to knock them out."

"I don't know if he said it or if he will say it, but he certainly experienced the strongest emotion of his career. A title of world champion is the rainbow jersey on the shoulders for a year, and it relates to the performance of his father and his grandfather, as well as what he has last year, there was an overabundance of emotions at the finish line. I imagine the happiness that was his."

"It's incredible. I commented on Raymond Poulidor's victory at Saint-Lary, I commented on Adrie on the Tour de France in Pau, and now there is Mathieu. Raymond believed in him from the start. When he spoke of his grandson, he was very talkative and had detected an exceptional talent in him. His career is in any case successful. This boy is able to shine everywhere, it's called high class."