Mathieu van der Poel: "I think I raced the perfect final"

Mathieu van der Poel recently travelled from Italy to Belgium and at Dwars door Vlaanderen he put in a strong enough performance to take a strong win. He is looking ready for the cobbled monuments.

“I certainly didn't feel the strongest in the leading group. Tom Pidcock and Tiesj Benoot certainly made an impression, but I did what I had to do. Maybe the team opened it a little too early, because we quickly lost riders. But I'm glad I was able to finish it. I think I raced the perfect final," van der Poel said in a post-race interview. The Dutchman was very active in the final 90 kilometers, and was part of the decisive move with just under 70 kilometers that ended up deciding the race. He was a major force in the group's collaboration, and had a relatively calm ride until the final 20 kilometers.

Only inside the final ten kilometers did the race open up, but the Dutch had the legs to close some moves - with help from INEOS - and in the end he matched Tiesj Benoot's decisive attack in the final two kilometers. “In the last ten kilometers it was difficult to control. I did try to make the needed effort, especially when Pidcock, Benoot and Campenaerts were gone. That was a really big effort to get them back. I'm glad I did, although it hurt," he added.

In the end, the Alpecin-Fenix rider has taken a win in his first cobbled classic of the season: “I wasn't going to start the sprint from that far, but I saw that I had a gap after the last corner. My legs were full, and I could still see Tiesj's front wheel close by, so I thought he might get over it with a long sprint. But afterwards I timed it well. And Tiesj was very strong and certainly deserved second place.”

Whether he is in peak form for this Sunday's Tour des Flandres or not is a question not many know well, however today was a very good sign for his upcoming goals: "That's a different race, especially the distance. I was good today, but certainly not great. Now I will rest for Sunday, because that will be necessary to go with the best.”