“I needed this with an eye on the classics" - Mathieu van der Poel heads to Milano-Sanremo full of confidence despite missing out on Tirreno-Adriatico stage win
CyclingSunday, 16 March 2025 at 17:47
Mathieu van der Poel had an interesting if unspectacular outing at Tirreno-Adriatico this week. Although a stage win ultimately wasn't on the cards for the Alpecin-Deceuninck leader, he does nevertheless head to Milano-Sanremo with his confidence levels boosted.
"I feel good, which is a victory in itself considering the weather of the past few days. I needed this with an eye on the classics," Van der Poel assessed of his feelings in conversation with Sporza, ahead of Sunday afternoon's final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico 2025. "It's a shame I couldn't win a stage. That was the goal. I had a few good days. But it didn't work out. An extra stage win in Tirreno wouldn't change my palmares much, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't have liked to win. I came close too."
Van der Poel did indeed come close, finishing 3rd on stage 4 and 2nd on stage 5. "I think I found the extra percentages I was looking for here," Van der Poel says happily, although he does note that one of the stars of Tirreno-Adriatico 2025 has also sent out a Classics warning. "In this Tirreno it was mainly Filippo Ganna . He has already proven that he is a candidate winner for Milano-Sanremo."
As for his other potentially standout rivals for the coming weeks, Van der Poel produces two candidates. "Mads Pedersen is also in good shape in Paris-Nice. And then Tadej Pogacar is still at home," the former world champion concludes, revealing what's to come for himself in preparation for Milano-Sanremo. "Mainly rest and occasionally provide a stimulus during training. I feel ready for what is to come."
On the final stage, Van der Poel was again active, actually getting himself into the day's early breakaway. Again though, he was denied a stage win as Jonathan Milan eventually prevailed from a bunch sprint in the finale.
Sur la dernière étape de #TirrenoAdriatico, promise sur le papier aux sprinteurs, Mathieu van der Poel et Kevin Vauquelin ont pris l'échappée. Ils sont accompagnés par Lucas Hamilton, Manuele Tarozzi et Bjoern Koerdt. 21e hier, le Français est 12e du général à 1'52 de Juan Ayuso. pic.twitter.com/yRqHiAfAvf
— Le Gruppetto (@LeGruppetto) March 16, 2025
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- what a pity... he could have easily won the stage. He stopped his attack.
maria2024202422-05-2025 - Poor decision to let Primoz come back. Should have tried to put time into him.
Front24222-05-2025 - You're so wrong ! Froome needs to go away!frieders322-05-2025
- Shows a lot of class for such a young guyCrashjames22-05-2025
- Think how strong the team could be without Froome consuming all that money with nil to show for it. Sad. Selfish on his part tbhCrashjames22-05-2025
- Tom Dumoulin said out loud what many people were already thinking.
santiagobenites21-05-2025 - He’s also taking the place and money of many more deserving (and just as useful) riders (who’d significantly reduce costs). Only thing CF does for IPT is help them stay relevant for discussion because there’s no such thing as bad publicity if you don’t have a reputation to consider.Mistermaumau21-05-2025
- We’ll see. I’m still trying to figure out how GT cycling went from being a climbing defined event to a 3 week event around a couple of short TTs. All the contenders more or less cancel each other climbing and then grow huge (as the media defines the time spans now) gaps when riding on bikes not made for GTs, quite ironic really.Mistermaumau21-05-2025
- When you read this you get the impression they ride without radios or don’t have a common language for communication.Mistermaumau21-05-2025
- That was a very nice ride by Richard Carapaz. His team set him up perfectly for that attack.santiagobenites21-05-2025
I don't think MvDP has to worry about Filippo Ganna winning San Remo. His bike handling skill was subpar and couldn't descend Poggio without being overtaken and distanced by skilled daredevils.
MVDP usually knows how and when to peak, people read too much into some races. While back a big thing was made out of Pidcock beating Wout only for a reversal in the more important next race.
I cannot understand what you wrote. I think you made some typos or something.
Not really, the long version:
I tend to agree, also I wouldn’t read too much into MVDPs lack of stage wins compared to years ago, he was never far. MVDP usually knows how and when to peak, people read too much into some races. While back, a big thing was made out of Pidcock beating Wout only for a reversal in the more important next race. Does it make more sense now?
yes