"This generation no longer does towing or sucking wheels" Thijs Zonneveld about the new generation riders

Mathieu van der Poel has proven himself to be a man in form and at the E3 Saxo Classic perhaps consolidated himself as the main favourite for the Tour of Flanders. However, in the right circumstances, he can be put under pressure or dropped as was the case at Gent - Wevelgem, and Thijs Zonneveld discusses the World Champion's defeat this past weekend.

"This generation no longer does towing or sucking wheels, while that was the case in the not so distant past. It's just not in their heads anymore," Thijs Zonneveld said in the Het Wiel podcast. "They just make it a tough fight, even though it's not the best choice tactically. Maybe it makes defeat easier to accept, but I like it. These guys meet each other so often and from the moment they start hitting on each other, it's over. It might help them win a race, but in the long run it will cost them more than it will bring them in.”

Whilst Team Visma | Lease a Bike have great quality in numbers, they were not on their best day at E3 where only van Aert and Matteo Jorgenson rode towards the front in the decisive moments of the race. At Gent - Wevelgem Lidl-Trek had Pedersen, Jonathan Milan and Jasper Stuyven. They managed to use Milan's attacks to force van der Poel into spending a lot of time in the wind.

"You really have to make sure that Van der Poel rides behind you instead of the other way around. They finished Van der Poel to such an extent that Pedersen was able to gain the upper hand," he explains. "It was indeed very daring and could have come back to their faces like a boomerang, but in the end it was extremely clever. There were actually some cracks in the rainbow armor and that is only the merit of Lidl-Trek. We looked at a way to slaughter a superhuman rider."

In Flanders this will be tougher though, as the route is much more compact with difficult climbs and cobbled sectors, and there aren't long flat sections except for the one leading back into Oudenaarde. "Gent-Wevelgem is indeed less difficult, because there is no succession of cobblestones and hills here. This race suits Pedersen very well, because there are few steep climbs here and on the flat he is simply great.

"Getting a lot of riders to move forward very early is also more difficult in the Tour, while that is the only way not to let him slaughter you," he says. However in terms of numbers Alpecin-Deceuninck hasn't shown the best in the cobbles so far, and van der Poel may be vulnerable to attacks from both teams.