Matteo Jorgenson may be biggest rival in Flanders, but does he believe he can beat Mathieu van der Poel? "He is supernatural"
Cycling
Matteo Jorgenson has found himself in the unlikely position of being the sole Team Visma | Lease a Bike leader into the Tour of Flanders and being Mathieu van der Poel's biggest opponent. With this in mind, he and Tiesj Benoot share his thoughts ahead of the climax of Flandrien racing.
"I was really bored with the thought that I had a major cause in the fall. Wout's explanation was different than what I thought. In the end it was just an incident. Through all the stories I can form an image of what happened," Tiesj Benoot shared with In de Leiderstrui at this afternoon's press conference. "You ride to a point where no one wants to brake. Wout doesn't know exactly what happened, but he would find it strange that he would have tapped my wheel. He was extremely focused."
Benoot had initially blamed himself for the mass crash that severely impacted the spring classics, but ultimately it was not the fault of someone in specific. "We can race as the underdog. That takes some pressure off the team. But the atmosphere is and remains ambiguous. We all had mixed feelings. But today we went exploring and were able to put our minds completely on Sunday. Wout sent us some messages, which really motivated us," he continues.
The Belgian will be an outsider for Flanders after his strong ride this past Wednesday, and a part of Visma's more modest block into the cobbled monuments. The team is focused and ready to work with the weapons they have at hand including Dylan van Baarle who is also returning to competition. And on van der Poel: "We are not afraid of him, but of course he is a big part of our plan. If you see how he rode on Sunday and Friday, you have to go to the finish without him. Our strength is width, so we have to play that to the fullest."
As for Jorgenson, who will be the team leader, he is aware of who he will have to face in the way to a monument battle. "It felt good to win in those circumstances. It was nice to bring positivity to the team after all the bad luck." Of course, he was asked about the man to beat Mathieu van der Poel: “He is supernatural. He is super strong and of course the top favorite. Yet anything can always happen. I like to choose a tough competition. Then I'll be just a little bit better."
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A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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- On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And we, what are we doing?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And yet, it attracts people, even you. What’s more, it attracts the rival fanboys to fill cyberspace with endless pointless my hero is better than your hero blabla that’s all been heard before and only helps sell the site as an advertising platform. You know what the solution is but most can’t resist. No different than women who follow and discuss celebs through gossip magazines.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- he is doing 460 watts for 35 min to achieve 7 w/kg with VO2 at 96 , just unreal numbers.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just do it, and put up with the consequencesJumpyjohn08-11-2026
- "was a headliner at the Tour de France" Nobody cared about Piddie. Only rivals that were there for Pogi, Jonas, Remco, Sexias, Lipo, Del Toro and they were all expected to lose. Piddie was not even in any conversation.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- exactly, he had an amazing season, but with these overstatements they don‘t do him good.Ketterechts08-11-2026
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