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Mathieu van der Poel on van Aert and Pogacar's absence from Strade Bianche: "That does change the race a bit"
CyclingFriday, 03 March 2023 at 13:12
Strade Bianche is due tomorrow. Mathieu van der Poel is starting his season and as he attempts to capture his second title, he discusses the absence of two of his rivals in the competition.
“That does change the race a bit. Of course it will remain a very difficult race, but they are two riders who always participate in the race and who you can certainly use to make the difference”, van der Poel said ahead of the race. “If they make a move, you have to be with them. Pogačar is someone who dares to challenge from afar.”
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Initially defending champion Pogacar was set to ride Strade but opted not to in order to focus on Paris-Nice which starts a day later. Wout van Aert suffered from an illness in his recent training camp at Mount Teide and has delayed his start to the season in order to get in more days of training. That leaves the Dutchman with a slightly smaller field to match.
He will still have an incredibly high level alongside, with the likes of Julian Alaphilippe, Tim Wellens, Tom Pidcock, Tiesj Benoot and Matej Mohoric all showing great form over the last few weeks. The Alpecin-Deceuninck team has done the recon of the course yesterday as most teams have and he's given an opinion on the conditions he will be facing.
“It looked more like bad asphalt than real gravel, but that depends on the weather. Due to the rain, there is not a lot of gravel on the strips,” he added. "It's my first race after a training camp and I need a few races to grow to my best level, but I hope to be able to ride with a good feeling."
Van der Poel had a spectacular in in 2021 which he will look to repeat, just a month after a very important triumph at the cyclocross World Championships. “This race has something magical for many riders. I've already won once, and I didn't ride my best race once, and I'm looking forward to being back at the start. The way I won then was nice against sounding names," he concluded.
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