Mathieu van der Poel has revealed his calendar for the upcoming spring, aswell as his main goals for the 2023 road season. As expected he aims high into the cobbled classics, and will ride the Tour de France this summer in search of success.
The Tour will be his priority in the summer, as van der Poel opts to be absent from the Giro d'Italia after 2022. Despite winning a stage and making his presence well felt in the race, he struggled with form following the Giro and abandoned the Tour de France without any meaningful success. He now looks to return to his traditional build-up, including the Tour de Suisse.
It will be in the spring however that the Dutchman will be in the spotlight more. After the Hoogerheide cyclocross World Championships the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider will take some rest and begin specific preparations for the road season.
He will make his debut at Strade Bianche, as will Wout van Aert. The two will have an almost identical spring schedule as van der Poel will then also race Tirreno-Adriatico in search of his best form, and Milano-Sanremo where he finished third in his return to competition last year.
It was not mentioned in the announcement the presence in the classics between monuments, such as the E3 Saxo Classic, Gent-Wevelgem and Dwars door Vlaanderen where is the reigning champion. However, recently the team has shared that out of those, van der Poel will be racing E3, often termed as the most important test before Flandres.
Van der Poel will then race the Tour des Flandres with the number 1 after last year's triumph and Paris-Roubaix. He will be absent from the Ardennes classics including Amstel Gold Race where he's succeeded in the past. The World Championships in Glasgow are also likely a very high target as they come right
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