Mathieu van der Poel won E3, but Tadej Pogacar is the real winner for Johan Bruyneel: "What is going to stop him?"

Mathieu van der Poel won the E3 Saxo Classic, however with a much less dominant performance than a year back. Whilst he has taken the win on the 'mini Tour of Flanders', the performance didn't look convincing against a modest field that is likely going to be no match to Tadej Pogacar next week.

The Dutchman launched a long-range attack and was without a doubt the strongest in the race, riding to his third consecutive win in E3. But it was an attack that perhaps came too early, and at a high cost.

“Personally, I think it would have been smarter to keep [Tim] Van Dijke with him for a bit longer (the two attacked on the Taaienberg, but van der Poel dropped his compatriot soon after, ed.). His attack came with 65 kilometers to go, that is far out, and in E3, there is still a long way to race after the hill zone," Bruyneel said on The Move podcast.

Afterwards, the Dutchman maintained his gap, but saw it fade in the final flat section of the race. Against a strong group that was cooperating well, the gap began to fade. Whilst this is not unusual in a regular race scenario, riders such as van der Poel and Pogacar have gotten fans used to obliterating performances that defy logic.

On Friday, van der Poel's victory was widely attributed to the chasing group's lack of cooperation in the final kilometer. Even van der Poel himself argued that he couldn't sprint anymore. "He showed that he is human. It is incredible that he still won, because I thought he was done.”

But 'being human' is not the kind of performance that is encouraging ahead of the second monument of the season, where Pogacar already managed to win in his two participations. There is much more climbing, and the Koppenberg where historically Pogacar has been able to put van der Poel on the ropes.

“He is ready, but there is one problem: Tadej Pogacar. That is his problem, and it will be his problem in the races to come. Who is good enough to beat Pogacar? Okay, Tom Pidcock was able to follow him in Sanremo, but without the crash I think Pogacar would have gone solo on the Cipressa and ridden all the way to the finish.”

The Belgian pundit did not see van der Poel's performance as encouraging, but this Sunday's Middelkerke - Wevelgem can still change things. The Alpecin-Premier Tech is also still carrying the wounds of his Milano-Sanremo crash, which can eventually improve over the coming week and provide him better chances.

“It is genuinely possible that Pogacar wins all five Monuments in one season," with Paris-Roubaix perhaps being the one true race that is in doubt. "The problem with Flanders and Roubaix is that there are external factors, and those are hard to avoid. But he has already won the one that was hardest for him to win: Milano-Sanremo. What is going to stop him?”

Bruyneel believes that at the Tour of Flanders, the Slovenian will be the outright favourite. His recent climbing performances and the strong collective strength back that up. “Normally, he wins Flanders again. He has a strong team, and you could also see an unbelievable ride from Florian Vermeersch, who came back after a mechanical problem.”