Oude Kwaremont means Tadej Pogacar still favourite for Tour of Flanders says Sean Kelly: "Mathieu van der Poel will have to be at his best"

Mathieu van der Poel got the better of Tadej Pogacar in a real thriller last weekend at Milano-Sanremo, answering every attack of the world champion before eventually taking the win in a three-up sprint also involving Filippo Ganna. Despite this potential blow to Pogacar's psyche however, Irish icon Sean Kelly insists the Slovenian remains the favourite to take victory at the upcoming Tour of Flanders.

Although as mentioned, Van der Poel was able to match and even counter Pogacar's repeated attacks on the climbs of the Cipressa and the Poggio at Milano-Sanremo, Kelly believes the Oude Kwaremont at the Tour of Flanders poses a much different threat to the Alpecin-Deceuninck leader. "It’s a long section of cobbles and the climb goes on and on, so Pogacar can really put Van der Poel in difficulty, more so than in Milano-Sanremo," stresses the 68-year-old, three-time runner-up at the Tour of Flanders. "Van der Poel will have to be at his best if he wants to match Pogacar."

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With Pogacar also taking up a couple of races in between now and Flanders, Kelly can see pros and cons of the busier schedule of the world champion. "I think Pogacar will be in the mix in races like E3 and Gent Wevelgem, but I don’t actually know why he’s racing them. He’s a racer, he loves being in the action, but sometimes that also means being in the dangerous stuff. With the wind and the terrain, those races are always that bit more risky than riding something like Milano-Sanremo," he explains. "For a rider like him, if he won E3 or Gent-Wevelgem, they’re not big in the broad scheme of things, we won’t even be talking about that once it gets to the Tour de France."

"He also doesn’t need to race them to warm up to Flanders. He has enough experience in that race, he could go away and prepare in another way, or he could ride them with safety in mind and not take any risk, but the thing is Pogacar doesn’t do that. When he gets that adrenaline flow, he’s going to get involved, and that’s where the danger is. So for a rider whose objective is the Tour, I’m surprised he’s doing so many of them," Kelly adds. "The team should be able to talk to him and say 'Look, this is too much of a dangerous programme, we just don’t want you to do it' but it seems very much that what he wants to do, he gets permission to do it to quite a big extent, and that could turn out to affect his preparations for the Tour."

Van der Poel took victory in the sprint at Milano-Sanremo

Following Van der Poel's win though, both he and Pogacar are now locked on 7 Monument wins in total. For both, the prospect of completing the set of Monuments doesn't seem completely unrealistic, although Kelly can foresee potential sticking points. "They must be thinking about whether they can win all five – even if Milano-Sanremo seems to be a problem for Pogacar," he assesses.

"I don’t think it’s impossible for Van der Poel to win Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Last year we saw him racing Liège, but the way he’d been racing all the cobbled Classics, he hadn’t really done any specific preparation for the race, like a stage race or anything. But then he came to the race and finished third, after a crash at a vital moment, so he really surprised me with that performance. So I think Liège is certainly one he can win," Kelly continues. "For Lombardy, though, I think the climbs are too long and difficult, so I think that would be more difficult for him to win. It’s like Pogacar with San Remo: there’s a possibility, but it’s going to be very, very difficult."

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