"He already has the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in his back pocket" - No pressure on Mathieu van der Poel at the Amstel Gold Race

With arguably the biggest race in the Netherlands taking place this afternoon, it's Dutchman, Mathieu van der Poel who starts as heavy favourite. According to former Amstel Gold Race winner, Erik Dekker, all the pressure is on the world champion's rivals however.

"He rides around with amazing legs and self-confidence, which literally scares the competition. The worst that can happen to Mathieu on Sunday is that he does not win the Amstel Gold Race," explains the 2001 winner of the Amstel. " He doesn't worry about that, because he already has the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in his back pocket. Gosh, I wish I had experienced days like that.”

If van der Poel is to be beaten however, the list of challengers is quite lengthy. One name in particular stands out to Dekker when he looks through the field. “Then I first think of Bling Matthews,” says Dekker. “Because he might be able to beat Mathieu in a sprint. Maybe, I say. Because that is also the case with Mathieu and all those other top riders: they can do everything in a race, but also sprint. They have so many weapons at home, which makes it quite complicated to defeat them. But if they run Mathieu a bit empty, Matthews can put him on it, I think.”

“What helps is that we saw in Ghent-Wevelgem that Mathieu can also be beaten,” Dekker continues. “He may not always have done everything well there. But if he has a goal in mind, he doesn't make mistakes very often. I would therefore speculate on a scenario in which Alpecin-Deceuninck has to fix everything. And then they automatically say: 'do it yourself', because it is impossible to do everything yourself in De Amstel. The point is, it won't bother them. Then they may be without a win in De Amstel on Sunday evening, but they have already won three very big, fat fish this spring. That is why there is no pressure on Mathieu and his team.”