David van der Poel indicates winning all Monuments is not a priority for Mathieu van der Poel: "He wants to win the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix as often as possible"

Mathieu van der Poel is the big favorite for Tour of Flanders victory on Sunday. By adding third win at the Flemish Monument, he'd equal the best riders of the history. With Paris-Roubaix and Milano-Sanremo already under his belt too, one could begin to wonder whether Mathieu can maybe complete the Monument Grand Slam and collect all five. His older brother David van der Poel sees greatest obstacle in the Italian 'Classic of the falling leaves', Il Lombardia, lately dominated by Tadej Pogacar.

Now retired David says that he is proud of his younger brother in a conversation with RTBF. "He gets better every year and wins big races. I've never been jealous, but it would have been nice to ride with his legs once, to see what it feels like!", laughs David.

"I think it would be difficult for him to win the Lombardia at the moment," thinks David. "The course is quite difficult. We have already seen editions with less difficult courses, so they are more feasible for him. But right now it's too hard. Especially with Evenepoel or Pogacar in front of him. The same applies to the Flèche Wallonne, although his chances of winning are greater there. He's not at the ideal weight for this kind of finish, but I'm sure he's capable of winning that race."

"He wants to win the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix as often as possible. But he also wants to win the other competitions that he has not yet won. There are a few competitions that will always be important to him and that he wants to win every year. But he also wants to expand his list of victories."