"It doesn't suit him to race for second place": Dutch experts suggest Van der Poel becomes more cunning against Pogacar

The 2026 Tour of Flanders offered a spectacular duel between Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar with the latter securing his third title at De Ronde. In a sense, seeing the two superstars battle for victory was nothing short of expected, yet the way the race's finale unfolded left some of the Dutch experts bitter, acknowledging that Van der Poel might've not played his cards perfectly against the flying Slovenian.

The race opened up early with a select group of favourites setting off on Molenberg, and while the group continued to gain formiddable advantage of struggling peloton, there has been a long ceasefire within this group. The stalemate lasted until the second passage of Oude Kwaremont when Pogacar lit up the race, allowing only Mathieu van der Poel to tag along on his way to victory.

At that moment, it's already become painfully clear that the Slovenian was having much better day than his opponent, as Van der Poel appeared to have problems even taking turns at Pogacar's hellish pace that prevented world-class time trialist Remco Evenepoel from ever reconnecting with the duo despite keeping the distance under 20 seconds for good 30 kilometers.

Then, the third, final ascent of Kwaremont approached and Van der Poel immediately left a gap to Pogacar: "You see him [Pogacar] riding the Oude Kwaremont at 650 watts 200 meters before the cobblestones," says former professional Thomas Dekker at Live Slow Ride Fast podcast. "Van der Poel thinks: 'I know better than anyone how long that thing is, I'm not going to keep that up.' He is a smart rider and knows how to limit the damage well."

Fellow former professional and Dutch women's national coach Laurens ten Dam sees that Van der Poel's biggest mistake might've been spending too much energy working with Pogacar, rather than saving his matches for the final ascent. "Mathieu is riding quite well with Pogacar there, but on all sides we see that Pogacar is actually stronger, right?"

Dekker agrees with this. At this moment, Pogacar is in a class of his own, even compared to Van der Poel. "I know it's a sensitive issue, and that we are happy that these champions always relay with each other. But are we going to keep up with the very best rider of all time in the coming years? When you are about 9 or 10 kilos heavier, with your mouth wide open?"

According to the former rider for teams including Rabobank and Lotto, riding along with the world champion means racing for second place. Even for a top-class rider like Van der Poel. "If Pogacar continues to ride like this in the coming years - and that is by no means a certainty - should you really be employing this tactic and riding for second place? That doesn't suit him at all."

Riding along less would bring the Dutchman more success. Sticking to Pogacar's wheel and then latching on at the Oude Kwaremont would have been an option, Dekker states. "The friendship might change, but he does say that he rode along fairly conservatively, like in In Flanders Fields with Wout van Aert. But it's no use when Pogacar is simply 5% better."