"I was nearly dropped on the Kemmelberg. The strongest rider won today" - Classy Mathieu van der Poel full of praise for victorious Mads Pedersen after Gent Wevelgem
Cycling
Despite his best efforts, Mathieu van der Poel couldn't quite follow up his E3 Saxo Classic victory on Friday with success at Gent Wevelgem this Sunday. The world champion narrowly missed out on victory in the final sprint to Mads Pedersen.
Afterwards however, there was no bad taste in the mouth of van der Poel. Instead, the Dutch superstar was full of praise for the eventual winner, sending Pedersen a classy message of congratulations in his post-race interview. “I really suffered a lot today. I was nearly dropped on the Kemmelberg. The strongest rider won today," assessed van der Poel honestly.
Whilst van der Poel and Pedersen were clear up ahead, there wasn't much separating the duo from the peloton in which, van der Poel's teammate, Jasper Philipsen was laying in wait, giving Alpecin-Deceuninck a tactical conundrum to consider.
“You have to make a decision at some point. As world champion you also want to ride in that situation, and Jasper doesn't win the sprint either,” van der Poel explains. “So that's always easy to say. I had to ride there and give it a try.”
Read also
Just in
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
Popular news
Latest comments
- Yes try riding same distances as themen as courses as hard. No point wanting same money if you are not putting the miles and same work in.paultryan200225-03-2025
- Come on, shorter stages, easier stages, less stages, easier one day races, shorter one day races, far lesser competition, slower speed, lack of bike handling skills and strategy … you can demand equality where it is due.. but that is rather not the case here. The men’s race was 20x more entertaining, so receiving 10x less is rather fair.
UltimateOpportunist25-03-2025 - this is officially the stupidest article i’ve ever read about cycling, or maybe anything else. i want those 2 minutes of my life back…OCexile25-03-2025
- I agree, this article is silly. Pogacar won that TdF because he was stronger than Roglic on the time trial not because he was unknown. Each rider has their own strengths and ride to those. Each of the classics and monuments have their own unique features that the riders must strategize.GB25-03-2025
- Yes, I think he still has a lot to say in road cycling. In the CX races he showed a very good gear but... the problem was essentially his NERVOUSNESS then he took bad decisions in finding the best strategies and paths. He needs confidence (calm down) and maybe a very good preparation gave him that.
maria2024202425-03-2025 - I don't believe so sadly, much as pulling another rider into that group I think Tadej and MVDP have raised the game so far they are essentially untouchable. The spoils of this season will be split between them, I believe Tadej will take RVV, LBL and Lombardia, MVDP MSR and Roubaix. I'm not even sure Remco will be at their level when he comes back. Tadej and MVDP are just a step above everyone elseslappers6625-03-2025
- Tadej and MVDP bring that panache back to cycling that we missed right through the Armstrong years, the Sky years and to an extent the couple of Visma tour wins. Whole team blocking a race, no attacking, no excitement till the leaders jumped away inslappers6625-03-2025
- Glad to know he's confident now, even though he didn't win; it's true, he never complains but in past interviews he often expressed his insecurity and bewilderment when he hadn't won the gold on the track or a time trial.maria2024202425-03-2025
- Would be so cool. Might not be possible regularly but a few, even Jungels showed glimpses of his past form after going through mental deserts.Jumpyjohn25-03-2025
- Yeah, might not feel like leaving his family or ending up like Senna or Schumacher. I’d have no problems with that, critics might have a tough time, finding a new target to focus on, maybe Remco? He’d be more tricky.Mistermaumau25-03-2025