Mathieu van der Poel: "My aim is to use this Tirreno to sharpen my form in view of the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix"

Mathieu van der Poel started his season at Strade Bianche. His best form still looked distant, and at Tirreno-Adriatico he will look to improve it towards the cobbled classics.

“Two years ago I was able to make a lot of spectacle here. I think I'm going to ridemore calculated now," van der Poel said in a press conference ahead of the race. "The form was also better two years ago. Now it's only the second race I'm riding on the road. I still have to grow to my top form. I will mainly use this Tirreno to be top in the Flemish classics, which are my main goal for the spring.”

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After winning the cyclocross World Champions, the Dutchman was able to rest and relax ahead of the road season. He's now been building up for some weeks and will be having the Tour des Flandres and Paris-Roubaix as his main goals for the spring.

“My aim is to use this Tirreno to sharpen my form in view of the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. There are rides in the next week where I want to go for a result and test myself by going deep. You also need such match days to improve your form. It is both physically and mentally tough to go very deep here every day," he explained.

A 15th spot at Strade Bianche shows he's within the realm of chasing wins throughout this week in Italy, but the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider will choose his days. Wout van Aert rode to a tremendous second place at Tirreno-Adriatico some years ago but then found he had burnt too much ahead of the cobbled classics. Hence comes a different preparation.

“That also applies to me. I will start with the same approach as Wout in Tirreno-Adriatico. I too will choose my days," he says. His Belgian rival will be making his season debut in the Italian stage-race with the focus on the very same goals.

“A time trial is not something I can win anyway. Even when I'm in top shape I still fall short against the real specialists. I'm not starting here to ride a general classification, so that's no reason to perform in the time trial either. Depending on how my legs feel, I will determine my approach in the time trial tomorrow," he concluded.