Mathieu van der Poel already has 3 of the 5 Monuments of cycling in his palmares: Paris-Roubaix, Milan-Sanremo and the Tour of Flanders. Of all the active cyclists, he is the one who is closest to being able to complete all five. However, it is something he discards and does not consider a viable objective due to his characteristics and the difficulty of winning the two remaining ones: Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia.
Thus, in statements made to the GT podcast, the current world road cycling champion explained that in Liège and attacking riders like Evenepoel and Pogacar would hurt him a lot and that the Giro di Lombardia is not an option for him due to his characteristics:
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"I don't really think about winning the five monuments. I participated once in the Liège Bastogne Liège and finished sixth, but it was a Covid edition. If Remco Evenepoel or Tadej Pogačar attack, I won't be able to follow them. Il Lombardia is impossible to win."
Mathieu van der Poel: „I'm not really thinking about winning the 5 monuments. I participated once in Liege Bastogne Liege and finished sixth, but it was a Covid edition. If Remco Evenepoel or Tadej Pogačar attack, I can't follow. Il Lombardia is impossible to win.” (GT podcast)
