"Two years ago he wasn't able to follow Tadej Pogacar on the Oude Kwaremont" - Mathieu van der Poel needs to be at his best to battle world champ says Christoph Roodhooft

Ahead of the opening Monument of the 2025 season at Milano-Sanremo on March 22nd, all eyes are on Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar. The last two World Championship road race winners headlined an all-star startlist, but if Van der Poel is to be able to compete with the current Rainbow Jersey, he will need to be at his very best according to Alpecin-Deceuninck boss Christoph Roodhooft.

"Mathieu wants to win and to win, you have to beat the strongest riders," says Roodhooft in conversation with Daniel Benson for his Substack. As mentioned though, in order against the very best of the modern day peloton - Pogacar - Van der Poel needs his very best legs according to his team boss. "Two years ago he wasn't able to follow Pogacar on the Oude Kwaremont (in the Tour of Flanders, ed.), so to win, his form on that particular day has to be incredibly good."

Following his performances at Tirreno-Adriatico over the last week though, Roodhooft is confident that Van der Poel is getting somewhere close to the level required to mix it up with Pogacar. “The form is building in the right direction, that’s my feeling,” he assesses happily. “Because of the weather, some of those feelings were mixed, but that’s the same for everyone. In the end, I think that Tirreno bought what we needed for Mathieu as he managed to get through the hard days. That was the goal. He tried to win here on some stages, anyway, he tried, but it’s not always easy.”

"I'm happy with his form towards Milano-Sanremo. At this point we can't change much, so we have to be happy with this situation. After all, it's a bike race and a one-day race, so the approach is completely different than here in Tirreno. He will be fully fueled and rested for next weekend," concludes the Alpecin-Deceuninck boss, noting that Pogacar won't be the only rider they have to have their eyes on. “We have seen that Filippo Ganna is in top form and we can expect something earlier in the race, as we saw last year on the Cipressa. We have to be alert. It all starts with the strength of the team.”