"I don't care if they do" - Christoph Roodhooft sends out warning to Mathieu van der Poel's rivals

This Sunday is finally the big one, the Tour of Flanders. Alpecin–Deceuninck arrive with the defending champion, and all eyes are on Mathieu van der Poel as he bids for a record-breaking fourth victory at the iconic Monument.

The team’s leaders, Van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen, were outspoken last weekend, voicing criticism of their rivals' tactics. Van der Poel was particularly unimpressed with how teams raced in the E3 Saxo Classic, after he and several other favourites were caught behind an early crash.

Philipsen also questioned the strategic choices of top teams at Gent Wevelgem, believing more should have committed to chasing down Mads Pedersen in the finale.

Despite the chaos at E3, Van der Poel went on to claim victory by a wide margin, further underlining his dominance this spring. For team boss Christoph Roodhooft, the message is clear.

"I don't know if teams will try anything and I don't care if they do," he told Cyclingnews. "At this time of year we have to have confidence in ourselves. I think we have proven in the last three, four years that we are capable of winning in the big classics, and the more we win, the harder it is to achieve that goal again.

“We work for it and sometimes it comes, but at the moment it seems that we are on the right side of the track.”

As Van der Poel gears up for Sunday’s showdown, the question remains: are we witnessing the strongest version of the Dutchman yet?

“Possibly. He was very good in E3 and also in San Remo. So far everything is going according to plan, let’s say, so we’ll see what happens on Sunday.”