"This is a bit of a disappointment" - No joy for Mathieu van der Poel in Olav Kooij's silver medal for the Dutch at 2024 European Championships
Cycling
The 2024 European Championship road race was widely expected pre-race to end in a bunch sprint. Despite Mathieu van der Poel doing his very best to stop that happening, it was, in the end, the result. As a double blow for Van der Poel, his teammate Olav Kooij then narrowly missed out on victory, sprinting to a close 2nd at the finish line.
"I made it a tough race, but Italy eventually came back. That was to be expected, with that strong block. There was a chance, but I have to say that I didn't have my super legs either. It was to be expected that the gap should have been bigger," Van der Poel assesses of the day in his post-race interview immediately following the finale. "The tactic was to always have someone with us, so we didn't have to ride from behind. I think we did that well."
With 50km to go, Van der Poel was part of a breakaway that also included the likes of defending European champion Christophe Laporte and former world champion, Mads Pedersen. Despite some good cohesion among the attackers, the peloton simply denied any real leeway and heading into the final 20km, Van der Poel was back in the peloton, refocusing on the leadout for Kooij in the final sprint.
"It was quite hectic, as expected. Long straight and then headwind. At first I was behind Olav. We wanted to pass him, but that didn't really work. He was in a pretty good position. I was there with Mike, but we just missed him," the Dutchman says of the finale. "I did what I could do. I think that was the plan, and then at the end with the whole team for Olav. We knew it was going to be difficult. I had already done my thing on the way, and I think he's not riding a bad sprint."
In the end though, missing out on victory is a tough blow to take for the world champion. "This is a bit of a disappointment, I think," Van der Poel concludes. "I think we should have brought Olav better, but it was quite hectic."
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- He is boring
leedorney08-11-2026 - To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
Dariusz08-11-2026 - Uwielbiam patrzeć, jak wyjeżdża na czoło peletonu i zaczyna się rzeź...Dariusz08-11-2026
- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
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𝗦𝗔𝗖𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗢 𝗟𝗢𝗦 𝗣𝗔𝗦𝗢𝗦 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗛𝗜𝗕𝗜𝗗𝗢𝗦 Van der Poel, qué espectáculo tras otro #EuroRoad24
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