"It’s hard to imagine Van der Poel being able to hang with them" - Zonneveld on Netherlands and Belgium's tactics for Montréal
Cycling
Are the Montréal World Championships too difficult for Mathieu van der Poel? Potentially, but that remains to be discovered this coming Sunday. Dutch pundit Thijs Zonneveld has discussed the potential tactics the Dutchman can deploy.
As a pure puncheur and classics specialist, van der Poel is perhaps - out of those with a realistic shot at winning the rainbow jersey - the one who fares less good with the long steady uphill efforts.
The GP de Montréal showcased how few non-climbers could be in the mix, with the 3600 meters of climbing mostly packed into 180 kilometers will inevitably feature a lot of non-explosive racing.
Mathieu van der Poel is just about the most explosive rider on the favourites list. But will he be able to us that to his advantage?
"Van der Poel needs to have the reserves to do that two or three times. But he has to save those efforts," Thijs Zonneveld argued on the In de Waaier podcast.
"He holds three aces and a hand of nines and tens, whereas someone like Paul Seixas has four kings, four queens, and three jacks. That changes the game entirely."
Van der Poel has two main options, so as to save his efforts: Race conservatively and wait for a final lap dash; or attack early and try to disrupt the plans of the teams looking to control the race.
Mathieu van der Poel won at the 2026 Tour de France and will aim for the same form on Sunday
"If he waits, he becomes heavily dependent on how the race unfolds. He could choose to race very defensively: doing nothing when Evenepoel attacks, doing nothing when Van Aert attacks. Just waiting, waiting... And hoping he can stick with Del Toro and Seixas during the final two laps."
"The question is whether that’s a wise move, because you have to be able to keep up. If you wait the whole race, and Seixas makes a move on the penultimate lap forcing you to play your last ace, then you stand no chance on the final lap".
Although the climb to Mount Royal - 1.6Km at 7% - is fully within range of van der Poel's best abilities, its repetition for 12 laps, as well as the rest of the punchy circuit, will prove to be very difficult. "Besides, the results of the GP Montréal showed only climbers at the front. It’s hard to imagine Van der Poel being able to hang with them."
Van der Poel on the offensive?
The second tactic is to attack early. As discussed on the CyclingUpToDate Podcast, van der Poel is likely to go on the attack early and try to lure a group of classics specialist to anticipate the strongest climbers in the field.
"The other possibility is that he thinks 'I can't keep up on the last two laps anyway, so I need to anticipate the move'. I have to race in a way that works on the intermediate sections too, breaking up the French and Italian squads early on. A chaotic race where you can break away on the descent, preventing Seixas and Del Toro from playing their game."
Van der Poel's form appears to be on point after two victories at the Tour de Luxembourg, both confirming his explosivity but also his current ability to perform long steady efforts. But for Zonneveld, the Dutch leader's choice is quite evident:
"When you hear him talk about the course, you pretty much know what he’s going to do. He’s going to race assertively, right? That’s certainly something he tries often. He’s at his best when he tries to dictate the race. He’s more likely to become an ally of Evenepoel and Van Aert than of Seixas and Del Toro".
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How will Belgium race?
Within the big favourites lie the Belgian national team, with Remco Evenepoel and Wout Van Aert at the helm. They will look to use their numbers and potentially take their first win since Evenepoel conquered Wollongong in 2022.
"In the recent past, the Belgians raced foolishly against Pogacar. I hope Evenepoel and Van Aert realize that they are each other's greatest allies," Zonneveld stated. "They need each other, and they need roughly the same race scenario. Because Evenepoel is two kilos heavier and can't keep up on the climb".
Paul Seixas, but most importantly Isaac del Toro is, in the eyes of the Dutch pundit, the strongest on the field. But that may not mean much in a race that can get very tactical.
"In the most logical scenario, an old-school World Championship scenario, Del Toro is the favorite. Because you simply can't drop him on the climbs, and he’s the fastest in a sprint. But in a chaotic scenario, he’s the most vulnerable, because he has to react to everything. And that is absolutely draining".
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- Ok, Walt 🤣... Vingegaard would be lucky to get on the poduim. He would not beat Seixas or Del Toro, let alone TP. Then there are the Americans...BD06-11-2026
- So, for starters. Cycling is a saturated, static/dying sport in traditional lands, it will not have resurgences like eg running occasionally does because of several obstacular (yes, I know that’s not a word but don’t make me point out the obvious at your expense) factors. Obviously, like almost everything involving money, there is a desire/need/advantage to growth and that can only come from (developing or just testing) new markets. For me, the WC is the obvious and best choice for several reasons, it comes at the end of the season so is less critical season risk wise, it is not a “pro” team race but nation based which makes integration of uncommon participation more natural. It is a vehicle for redistribution (one of a very limited number of available mechanisms to develop new markers fairly) that the fixed calendar doesn’t allow and it helps make budgets fairer over the long run (moving the whole circus to everywhere evens out everyone’s budget as opposed to having everyone always come to the same location.Jumpyjohn06-11-2026
- Sad that a more refreshing article like this, which could generate discussion in a number of directions, gets completely ignored for the importance of debating the level of superiority of one rider into every single last detail, including a majority of totally hypothetical ones. People complain there is no news in the off season and it’s boring but don’t realise how boring it is to review the same old discussion over and over again, several times a day. In fact, you’d almost think this was a rider fan website. Instead of complaining about the FREE (as long as you pay attention to data use if not unlimited coz this site consumes almost as much for loading Youtube) content, the presence of cv of authors (for the missed obvious reason that it makes it easier to insert extra advertising without changing formats), the lack of quality/checking and depth of articles, why not also think about the content, quality and variety of posts that everyone can contribute to? The platform becomes irrelevant when discussion is interesting.Jumpyjohn06-11-2026
- UAE Team Emirates and Pogačar will officially unveil their objectives at the team’s media day, which will take place on December 18 in Benidorm, Spain. New information from the UAE Team: Exceptional recovery remains the cornerstone of success for the Slovenian cannibal-Pogi, whose sporting manager, Matxin, believes he will be even better in 2027 than he has been over the past three seasons.PogiSloFans06-11-2026
- Yeh, but he didn't and RE beat Pog & Del T 👍
leedorney06-11-2026 - Just my opinionleedorney06-11-2026
- Great win.However will the world champions jersey be simply a domestic for the season which will some what tarnish the jersey. I hope he is given free rein to try and win some races.paultryan200206-11-2026
- Gretsky wow how old are you lol. Classy sportman though.🤣🤣🤣🤣 Hope it is a good as the one they made on Mark Cavendish.paultryan200206-11-2026
- Literally the perfect RedBull athlete.anonymouscyclist06-11-2026
- And well understood in the CX community.anonymouscyclist06-11-2026
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