Mathieu van der Poel: "This is certainly not what I had hoped for"

Mathieu van der Poel was rated as a top favourite for Paris-Roubaix. Despite a race that saw some conservative riding, the Alpecin-Fenix leader didn't have the legs in the final 30 kilometers of racing to turn his current form into a win, as he settled with a modest ninth place in the velodrome.

The Dutchman told Sporza at the end of the race that “it was a bit of hanging and strangling. This is certainly not what I had hoped for, but it was also a separate race." Early on in the day Alpecin were forced to put on a chase, for around 100 kilometers as van der Poel was caught behind the split early in the day. Whilst he didn't hit the win, it took out many of the team's reserves which proved costly at the end.

"I didn't really panic. I didn't know if we were going to come back, but I never panicked. I sat from behind, but didn't really go to the side. And suddenly half of it was gone," he said regarding that.

"We did come back in a good situation thanks to good team work, but I didn't have the legs today either," he added. Despite having returned to the front group and generally avoiding bad luck, he didn't have the legs to match Wout van Aert when the Belgian champion attacked him with 22 kilometers to go, into the podium fight.

Nevertheless, van der Poel was not disappointed as his spring was wildly successful taking into consideration that he only began his training in late January: "Everything I've ridden has been bonus. This is already much more than expected. I had hoped for a nice Roubaix, but I'm happy with what I was able to get out of it. I was really empty at the end. The last 30, 40 kilometers kept fighting, but it was on character," he concluded.