Mathieu van der Poel prepared for Tadej Pogacar to attack Flanders early: "He did that two years ago"
Cycling
Mathieu van der Poel is a three-time winner of the Tour of Flanders and this afternoon in Oudenaarde he has the chance to make history and become the first rider to ever have four in his palmarès. But in order to do that, he will need to go through a luxurious startlist and a World Champion who is just as eager to take the win.
“Two years ago, I also won a prize with the team at the start here in Bruges. You know the saying about the donkey that doesn’t stumble over the same stone twice. I hope that doesn’t happen to me today,” he joked to Sporza at the start, in reference to then having lost the race to Pogacar that year.
The two are the biggest favourites for today's race and that doesn't come as much of a surprise. At Milano-Sanremo they were the strongest on the climbs, and since there has been no injury or illness to prevent them from having their best legs for the second monument of the season. They have won every edition of Flanders since 2020 (with the exception of 2021 where van der Poel was second to Kasper Asgreen) and it's expected that the title remains in the hands of one of them.
“I think everyone makes mistakes along the way. Small mistakes, positioning. You can’t always control that yourself. I think the main thing is to stay as calm as possible and control the situation. Especially with the team," van der Poel reassured before a race where Alpecin may be outnumbered by teams such as UAE and VIsma.
As for Pogacar himself, the Dutchman knows he can't be surprised for Pogacar's eventual attacks, and that they can come very early on in the race. “He is going to make that race as difficult as possible. He did that two years ago and I expect a similar scenario.”
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- Good choice of profile picture by the way :-)Mistermaumau10-04-2025
- Bolt was an outlier, for some people it can’t exist. Funny thing is 3 generations later, a lot of amateurs reach the level the average pro had. Ok, maybe counting from today it might be 5 or 6 generations because we won’t all have access to the equipment and staff and assistance pros now need to perform.Mistermaumau10-04-2025
- Actually, I’ve not noticed that fans have even noticed results are provisional so as far as the sport itself goes, I wouldn’t worry too much. Obviously some riders will miss out on celebrating but then these days, they’re all paid so well that it’s quite a small price to pay. Andy Schleck certainly didn’t get to party like he was used to when he received Alberto’s trophy and titles, nevertheless, he’s in the books and I’m sure he feels like and gets treated like a tdf winner. CATCHING dopers is good for the sport, though at the moment I’d have no idea who to go looking for.Mistermaumau10-04-2025
- Someone like David Walsh, who was the point person in the Sky Team coverup? When there was money and fame in bringing down Armstrong, he went for that. Then he sold that crusader image to Sky. And then renounced them. The guy has made more money from athletes and doping without ever once competing himself, having to take drugs, or even stand for a single principle. He is no different than Novitzsky, who was pivotal in the Armstrong investigations, and helped put Marion Jones in jail. Now he is full-time in the coverup business for the UFC.
Barney10-04-2025 - Do you think that making results provisional for 10 years makes for good sport? Or in any way remotely fairer, or safer?Barney10-04-2025
- Christian Scaroni, Clément Champoussin, Harold Tejada, Simone Velasco ... Peripheral riders who have failed to make much impression so far in their carrier, suddenly starting to win everywhere, climbing with the best in weekly WT races. Aging riders years after their prime, now seen more often than none at the head of the peloton in the classics. Still, no what is talking about the Chinese candies in the roomBM10-04-2025
- It's easy to dismiss doubters. We need someone like David Walsh who dares to ask the hard question. In the mean time, I wouldn't worry too much about Tadej. Whether he dopes or not, at least, he's not a terrible person like LA Doper.
KerisVroom10-04-2025 - Pogi is an outlier. You cannot prove an outlier using the statistical data of average pros. If he releases the data, it will only cause even more suspicion. In 2020 TDF he was dropped by Roglic in the mountains. So how does he do the TT where in the flats he nearly beat Tom Dumoulin and beat everybody else on the climb by a ton. No matter what Pogi is too much of an outlier which can be proven by dataabstractengineer10-04-2025
- Sorry? Have you not noticed how many winners and others have been cancelled post event, not least from the Beijing and London Olympics? If that doesn’t qualify for practice generalisation in sporting procedure, what is, we’ve even gotten to the stage of pre-emptive barring under suspicion of possible doping. If you’re going to look at a problem like this seriously, don’t just look at what makes media headlines in the parts you pay attention to. There is probably a wiki list (very long) of athletes who were disqualified for substance irregularities post event, and each had the opportunity to their long and costly process to defend themselves, it just doesn’t make the news unless you’re already a megastar (in which case you’d be extremely stupid nowadays to risk it, but then again, many people, especially in sport, fall in or close to such a category.Mistermaumau10-04-2025
- Not comparing GT results but you should not forget guys like Kuiper, Kelly, Moser, who did pretty well in both.Mistermaumau10-04-2025