Thijs Zonneveld critical of peloton as they fail to take initiative in Paris-Roubaix - "Were only concerned with Van der Poel's next attack"

Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel were the main attractions in the Paris-Roubaix race, even though there were plenty of other skilled riders. Thijs Zonneveld wondered why the others didn't try to take the initiative instead of waiting for them to make a move.

Hidde van Warmerdam and Zonneveld provided their analysis of the race in the Algemeen Dagblad's podcast In het Wiel. “The rest were only concerned with Van der Poel's next attack. No attack from John Degenkolb, Küng or Ganna,” he said.

Zonneveld finds it hard to understand the thinking process of the peloton riders. “Everyone was waiting, and you often see that when one rider is so much stronger and attacks so much. Max Walscheid did it once, and he immediately got it on his coconut because of an acceleration by Van der Poel.”

He continues, “If they sprint with seven men, he'll be seventh. And suppose he has a great day and is still with Van Aert and Van der Poel after Carrefour de l'Arbre, what do you have after that? Then you can never win again, can you? But this also applies to Degenkolb and Ganna.”

When the conversation turned to the rivalry between van Aert and van der Poel, he expressed his support for the latter. “ He was the only one there who could follow and had the option to ride to Roubaix together or not. Either he thought he couldn't, or he didn't dare. I conclude from that that he was the strongest, certainly in his head, but probably also in his legs,” concluded Zonneveld.