Horrible weather in Spain the main reason behind Mathieu van der Poel's early season start: "Staying there any longer would have made little sense"

We'll be having Mathieu van der Poel in action in less than 24 hours and that's quite a pleasant surprise for cycling fans in a few 'rest days' in the middle of the spring. Opening Weekend, Strade Bianche, Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico will now all have to contest the spotlight with Le Samyn who will have the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider at the start. Team manager Christoph Roodhooft explains what led to this decision.

“Simply a few things that coincided. Initially, Mathieu was supposed to train in Spain this week. But right now, the weather in that region is terrible,” Christoph Roodhoft shared with Het Nieuwsblad. “Staying there any longer would have made little sense. Moreover, Lars Boven dropped out last Thursday. He was scheduled for Le Samyn, which created a spot. Finally, Mathieu himself had already indicated that he would like to ride a race. That is how Le Samyn came onto the radar. And why not?"

The pieces of the puzzle all fell into place, and the 30-year old is looking to get some race rhythm in his legs already. With the likes of Timo Kielich and Simon Dehairs in the lineup they could have the freedom to chase a strong result, but van der Poel's natural power and the hilly course will likely end up seeing him as the leader - and potential winner of the race.

“Three months ago we briefly considered letting him ride the Opening Weekend. But we decided against it. It would leave even less time between the Cyclocross World Championships and his road season start. And we wanted to give him a few days off after the Cyclocross World Championships," Roodhoft continues.

“That was already close. The day after his holiday, Mathieu left for altitude immediately. He hasn’t been home for almost a month. That’s another advantage of Le Samyn: he can be home for a few days. He was really looking forward to that.”

Hence the decision was made and a relaxed van der Poel will compete before making the trip to Italy, where he will contest Tirreno-Adriatico and of course Milano-Sanremo where he is a former winner. On expectations towards tomorrow's race, he already provides some insight:

“It’s a beautiful race, with a firm finale. It shouldn’t be too difficult for Mathieu to ride that finale in a fun way. He’s ridden there in the past, by the way, and he liked it. He's not going to be in the condition he'll be in three weeks. But he's fine, yes. That's why he himself indicated that maybe another race would be possible. He's really looking forward to it. That was nice to hear."