Gianni Vermeersch ready to leave everything out there for Mathieu van der Poel: "Seeing them win brings me just as much satisfaction as riding for my own result"

The third monument of the season is already at the doorstep. Mathieu van der Poel is the big favorite to win Paris-Roubaix for the third consecutive year. The Dutchman he can rely on an experienced team which includes Gianni Vermeersch who even finished 6th himself last year.

For Vermeersch, Sunday will once again be about doing the work for team leaders Van der Poel and Philipsen. Is there a possibility for the Belgian to ride for his own result? "I’ve found my place in it and I feel good about it. Winning a classic is still something very different from, say, winning Dwars door het Hageland. That first one is something very few Belgian riders have achieved, not even me," the Belgian says candidly at HLN.

"I’d rather be meaningful in the finale as a pure domestique for two big finishers like Mathieu and Jasper, than go for my own chance with just a top-ten as the best-case outcome. They know what they can expect from me. And seeing them win brings me just as much satisfaction."

Ideally, Alpecin-Deceuninck will once again control the race on Sunday, just as they did last year, when they walked away with a victory, second place, and sixth in the final results of Paris-Roubaix. And Vermeersch knows that if he does his job right, he'll be rewarded in one way or another: "If you’ve got top legs and you do your job properly, supporting your leaders as long as possible, you can definitely go far in a race like Roubaix yourself."

So what would the perfect scenario look like for the Belgian team? Vermeersch can picture it clearly: a repeat of last year. "Getting over the Trouée d'Arenberg with at least three of us in a group of about twenty riders, and then being able to control everything in the finale."

That sounds great on paper, but making it happen is another story, as Vermeersch is well aware. "It’s unpredictable. All we can do is hope it works out again."