"It's pushing him to the limit" - Dutch coach believes Mathieu van der Poel can succeed at European Championships

As it is everywhere he goes, Mathieu van der Poel will immediately draw massive attention in case he'd participate at the European Championships in Ardéche. The organizers however prepared a hard course, maybe a bit too hard for the Classics expert? In any case, the Dutch national team coach Koos Moerenhout is ready to play his cards with Van der Poel as his ace, it seems.

But how does the race fall into the Dutchman's own plans? Van der Poel made it clear in long advance that the mountain bike world title is his absolute main goal for autumn. For that reason, we won't see the 30-year-old at the World Championships in Kigali two weeks later. But there is no extensive travelling asociated with the Continental Championships.

"Normally, it's penciled in on my schedule, but we'll have to wait and see how things go in the coming period," said Van der Poel about his potential participation in Ardeche before Renewi Tour two weeks ago. Since then, things have been moving in the right direction for the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider who won a stage at the Belgian stage race and finished 6th in XCO during World Cup in Les Gets - his best result in four years.

Good news for Moerenhout who can suddenly breathe easier when putting together a team for the championship. "When a rider like Mathieu puts his hand up, that's always good news," laughed the national coach at WielerFlits.  

European Championships organizer Guillaume Delpech's statement during the Tour de France was clear. "I think the course is too tough for Van der Poel," he said, looking more towards Remco Evenepoel, Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard as triumph candidates.

"I also did a reconnaissance myself, of course," Moerenhout explains. "I reported my findings to the Dutch riders. Mathieu included. And yes, the course is really pushing him to the limit. That's for sure. But is it impossible? I don't think so."

If the other favourites look at each other instead of pushing the pace, Van der Poel could survive until the decisive moments of the race. "It really depends on how the riders race. But that whole story starts with you: does Mathieu consider himself a good candidate, or not? And do you believe in that yourself as a rider? That's something he has to ask himself. But speaking for myself, I see opportunities pretty quickly with riders of Mathieu's caliber."

So the course isn't exactly Mathieu's cup of tea. "But then again, the World Championships in Zurich weren't his cup of tea either. There were doubts up front whether he could handle it, but he proved it with a bronze medal."

"One of Van der Poel's greatest strengths is his ability to recover very quickly," Moerenhout analyzes. "In that respect, the final climb at the European Championships suits him better than the longer climb earlier in the course. The men essentially ride six laps around Valence, skipping the long climb in the final three laps. It remains challenging, but that's a significant difference."