Mathieu van der Poel recalls Paris-Roubaix defeat against Sonny Colbrelli: "You never know when you get the chance to win a race like this again"

Mathieu van der Poel has recently payed a visit to the Geraint Thomas Cycling Club, where the two have chatted on numerous topics. Together, they shared stories about Paris-Roubaix.

Thomas talked about how he won the juniors' edition back in 2004 against Ian Stannard when his rival - who then became teammate in the future - missed the turn into the Velodrome. Thomas would go on to race the French monument as a pro, but never with the success of the now World Champion. Van der Poel won Roubaix this year, however he recalls his feelings when he missed out on the victory in the famous 2021 muddy edition.

"Especially as a cyclocross rider the first race that comes to mind is Roubaix, when you switch to the road, and it was close in the rainy edtion when I had to sprint against [Sonny] Colbrelli and Florian Vermeersch," van der Poel shares in the podcast. "I think I was already close to getting it, but that's the thing you never know when you get the chance to win a race like this again because you need a bit of luck as well on your side. It's quite a special feeling to enter the Velodrome there."

This year he managed to achieve this, what was one his main career goals. Together with Milano-Sanremo, the road and cyclocross World Championships, it made for a brilliant season on the road. Although he will focus on the cyclocross worlds and Olympic Games next season, van der Poel has a title defense in Roubaix on his schedule for the spring.