Mathieu van der Poel may match the likes of Merckx, Boonen and Sagan in reaching historic achievement if he wins Tour of Flanders
CyclingFriday, 29 March 2024 at 10:54
After Wout van Aert was severely injured and Mads Pedersen is in doubt to start the Tour of Flanders, Mathieu van der Poel's life became much less complicated for the second monument of the season. He is the main favourite to take the win, and he can achieve an interesting goal which very few have in history.
The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider won the E3 Saxo Classic after a terrific performance with attacks from very far away, eventually soloing to the win. In Flanders, a tougher race, a similar scenario is expected with only the likes of Matteo Jorgenson or Pedersen - if he recovers - being at a similar level.
If van der Poel wins, he will also be only the sixth rider in the history of the men's side of the sport to win with the rainbow jersey. Although often World Champions are classics specialists, this has actually only been achieved by five riders in the past.
They were Louison Bobet in 1955, Rik van Looy in 1962, Eddy Merckx in 1975, Tom Boonen in 2006 and most recently Peter Sagan in 2016. Van der Poel has good chances of adding his name onto this list as the winner of the 2024 edition.
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- That was a very nice ride by Richard Carapaz. His team set him up perfectly for that attack.
santiagobenites21-05-2025 - Like a said just a few days ago in the comments, look out for Carapaz!awp21-05-2025
- CF rides well but is well and truly 'former of himself...
leedorney21-05-2025 - That's outright negativityleedorney21-05-2025
- Dudes just salty he can't get a multi mil contract to keep racing. Froomes value to the team isn't actually on the bike. Thats been said so many times if follow IPT (and not only when suits to hate on Israel) because he helps the young riders so much and if you actually watch him race, he gives it a lot for his team. He's become a good domestique.HoopoeChai21-05-2025
- Stupid Advice especially when he is not in great form.abstractengineer21-05-2025
- No He is not. Adam Blythe, Take a hikeabstractengineer21-05-2025
- I dont have a problem with his riding only for the 5 million. What i have a problem with him lying all the time about the shape he is in.abstractengineer21-05-2025
- Love Wout - after everything he’s been through, rarely complains and never makes excuses. Humble champion. Doesn’t keep the pundits like Wuyt quiet howeverCrashjames21-05-2025
- I kind of agree with Tom.... he had his time, now he just looks bad. Never been a fan but his choice to do what he wants.slappers6621-05-2025
MdVD is a great rider, but his attitude often puts me off at times
Has he not enough historic achievements yet? Obviously he can go on collecting more as long as nothing serious happens but would this one really be a historic achievement? Just because something didn’t happen often doesn’t mean it’s a big achievement.