"They asked if anyone wanted to ride Le Samyn and I put my hand up. They thought it was a joke" - Mathieu van der Poel gives new insight into impromptu road return
Cycling
Earlier than expected, Mathieu van der Poel makes his return to road racing this Tuesday afternoon in Belgium at Le Samyn. A surprise to some, the Dutchman's choice to race came in a somewhat last-minute decision. At the startline in Quaregnon, Van der Poel gave some more insight into just how his impromptu return came about.
“I just felt like racing. My legs were starting to itch,” Van der Poel began. “I’ve had some good training weeks and felt ready to get started. I’m very happy with where I am. It’s a fun race to ride and it’s been a while since I’ve been at the start here.”
As it turns out, Van der Poel fans might actually have something to thanks Lars Boven for, as it was his initial withdrawal from the lineup that paved the way for the former world champion to make his return. “Somewhere last week, at the table in Spain, they asked if anyone wanted to ride Le Samyn, and I put my hand up. They thought it was a joke at first, but I was serious," explains Van der Poel. "For my form, it is most profitable to start racing now.”
“It is always my ambition to win. Today too. But we will see. My first races of the season are often not my best,” the Alpecin-Deceuninck star concludes, insisting that regardless of the result this afternoon, he won't be challenging Tadej Pogacar and co at the upcoming Strade Bianche. “That wasn’t in the planning anyway. Le Samyn wasn’t either of course, but after this race I’ll be training at altitude again. This is the only change in my program.”
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- Yawn! There were no ther top class sprinters there so he better have won! Let me know when he beats Jasper or Merlier or Milan!frieders309-04-2025
- Yes, I get that but it wasn’t exactly a good comparison if you ask me, circumstances and competition were very different. Also crashing whilst staying up front is pretty different from crashing and being left behind.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- Pidcock was riding at a hard enough pace until the sector where Pogacar made up something like 20 seconds in something like... 20 seconds. Pidcock was quite a bit ahead, and suddenly he wasn't. At that point, clearly he would get caught, so might as well get caught sooner and work together. That's just good cycling. (I think the point is, plenty of people win even after they've come down in a crash - Van der Poel crashed at the worlds and won, anyway, for example).RidesHills08-04-2025
- Great sprint, Ineos set him up at exactly the right time, they protected the corners through the turns, and he did the job he was supposed to do. Nice to see him win again.RidesHills08-04-2025
- When Vingo, Rogla, and Wout were all at the height of their powers, a sight to behold.mobk08-04-2025
- To quote the article: riders from Arkéa - B&B Hotels and a few others seized the moment to launch an attack, increasing the pace as Pogacar was briefly off the bike. Not coolmij08-04-2025
- I don’t think it was a matter of easing up. I think it was a matter of attacking. And MVDP said his team would respect similar situations. Perhaps not on the penultimate climb, but I believe they would. To accelerate is a jerk move.mij08-04-2025
- His basic attitude always has been (and we know age often reinforces inherent values), if I’m going down I’m going to try taking you with me.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- I know it’s tradition and nice but to make the discussion more interesting, if an Arkea rider had driven up to tell Alpecin or UAE to ease off for Mozzato or Vauquelin having a P, would they have been as gentlemanly?Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- That’s probably about right although if they’d talked it over it would have been in all their interests to work together to chase Pog down because those 4 arriving at the finish in that scenario would have left all 4 with a chance of victory.Mistermaumau08-04-2025