Tom Boonen on van Aert, Pogacar, and his favourite for Flanders and Roubaix Mathieu van der Poel: "He gained a mental advantage over Tadej"
Cycling
The spring classics are running at full speed currently, with Milano-Sanremo kicking off an extraordinary and epic race day. Now we switch our full attention to the cobbled classics where Tadej Pogacar, Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert will take turns headlining most of the big events. Classics legend and multiple monument winner Tom Boonen shares his thoughts days before the E3 Saxo Classic.
“At the moment, Van der Poel is my favourite. Mathieu van der Poel was impressive in Sanremo,” Boonen told Het Laatste Nieuws. “The way he responded to Pogacar on the Poggio, while everyone thought ‘stay put’, was really impressive. He gained a mental advantage over Tadej there. At the moment, Van der Poel is my favourite for the E3 Saxo Classic, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.”
Boonen is straight with his opinion that the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider will be very hard to beat over the coming weeks, as he continues to show stellar form, avoiding injuries and illnesses, and having once again perfect timing for his form.
With multiple Flanders and Roubaix titles in his palmarès already, pressure won't be as high as his rivals, and his Sanremo triumph will help further. Physically he seems to have a slight upper hand on his rivals, but mentally this applies as well.
“I also think that Pogacar was not at his very best in Sanremo. That fall in the Strade Bianche left some traces and that cost him some energy," Boonen wonders. "The question is whether Sanremo was a dip and whether he will get better or worse this week.”
On Wout van Aert, who hasn't been racing lately, but taking on an altitude camp ahead of his major goals, Boonen has questions: “I never went on an altitude training camp during the spring, but I think Wout knows himself well enough and knows what is the best solution for him at this moment in his career".
However his presence at E3 is a sign of confidence, and a set plan for early in the year: "It's a very difficult and complex race, you have to fight a lot and then you need the feeling. I would never have taken the risk of not racing for that, because I wouldn't have felt comfortable with that. I preferred to have the competition close by, so that I could keep a close eye on them."
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- Great picture, so alike and yet so different, Mads has the physique of a weekend amateur in comparison. You have to wonder how much better he could still be. I know it’s difficult not to be taken in by MVDP’s performances but it feels like reporting loses some of its purpose as a result, compared to other teams, we hardly hear about the Alpecin in-race work or riders.Mistermaumau30-03-2025
- agreed. flanders is a beast. i like tadej, but i’m full on rooting for mathieu next sunday.OCexile29-03-2025
- Indeed, strong as ever on the flat, maybe stronger on climbs. There are very few records within reach for contemporary riders (Cabendish had to extend his career to get his and took twice as long as Merckx to equality), this would be one that would be very hard to take away.Mistermaumau29-03-2025
- I thought newspeak was condensing any statement into the smallest number of pertinent words.Mistermaumau29-03-2025
- flanders is mvdp’s favorite race and he’s one win away from being the lone record holder with 4 wins. i’d be very surprised if the gap that pogačar opened in him there 2 years ago wasn’t THE major focus of all his training. and when mathieu has a goal, he turns himself inside out to achieve it. we’ll see next week if he got there, but i’d agree with van avermat’s assessment of van der poel’s fitness.OCexile29-03-2025
- It’s almost like newspeak. It’s classics season, Pogacar’s main rival has always been van der Poel. Then grand tour season will begin, and we will pivot mid sentence and Pogacar’s main rival will have always been Vingegaard. What a season this promises to be. Let’s hope they stay healthy (and Vingegaard gets past the concussion).RidesHills29-03-2025
- Great that he’s decided to do Flanders though his weight remark is irrelevant, Mads is proportionately heavier and MVDP has the same weight but is around 10cm shorter.Mistermaumau29-03-2025
- Yeah, looks slow up there.Jumpyjohn28-03-2025
- lol His aim was well off! MVP was well past him before the guy decided to spit.Cyclingsbestfan28-03-2025
- But you know that’s what makes this website live ;-)Mistermaumau28-03-2025