Mathieu van der Poel has found a new rival in Quick-Step: "Sprinting against someone new is quite exciting"

Mathieu van der Poel started off his season at Le Samyn, unexpectedly, and rode to a fabulous win in Dours to kick off his 2025 season. Although he attacked early in the race, he figured a sprint would be his best shot, and there he beat Paul Magnier to take the triumph. However he complements the Frenchman and has heard many good things about him.

"Paul is still very young. The wattages he sent me were scary. Tim Merlier said that he had often lost in the sprint," van der Poel shared with Wielerflits. "Sprinting against someone new is quite exciting. Paul is young and he is just starting out, but everyone already knows him."

The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider benefited from a tough race and an uphill sprint to beat the Frenchman, but Magniers' performances over the hilly races over the past weeks have been nothing short of impressive.

The Soudal - Quick-Step rider won a hilltop sprint on the opening stage of the Etoile de Bessèges and alongside Le Samyn, he was second also at the Figueira Champions Classic and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad - races that notably do not suit traditional sprinters. Out of five race days, the 20-year old has not once finished outside the podium so far this year.

In Omloop Het Nieuwsblad he didn't have to face an in-form van der Poel, but that could change one day. "I have never ridden that classic, but I think it is a race that must suit me very well," he admits. "I have ridden in Kuurne once before, but that is a different story. The Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is a difficult race every year. But that is the thing about making choices. Maybe I will participate one day."

The cyclocross World Championships and the need to take some rest and build more of a base ahead of the spring classics is traditionally the reason for his absence from the Opening Weekend, but it is a formula that has worked over the past years as he's net victories at Milano-Sanremo, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix to name a few.

There will be no Strade Bianche in his schedule, but the Dutchman will have new opportunities to test his form at Tirreno-Adriatico. “I have had some good training weeks and felt ready to start. I am very happy with where I am. After all, I have ridden against a number of strong names. It is not a monument, but I am happy with every race I win, and so also with this one. Tirreno-Adriatico is another race that I like to ride and in the past it has proven to be the right approach for me," he concluded.