"Van der Poel is capable of rising above himself in one-day races" - This could be world champion's best shot at Liege-Bastogne-Liege glory claims Thijs Zonneveld

With Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders already in the bag for Mathieu van der Poel in 2024, there's no doubt the world champion is in top form. Can he make it a hat-trick and tick another monument off his list at Liege-Bastogne-Liege?

Tadej Pogacar may start as favourite but according to ex-pro turned Dutch cycling expert, Thijs Zonneveld, this could be van der Poel's best chance. "He almost won already, so why not now?" Zonneveld asks aloud on the podcast In het Wiel. "I think it is to his advantage that he has ridden few races, that he has trained more often in Spain and it may be an advantage that there is less competition with him."

With just six race days in his legs this season, van der Poel has victories at the aforementioned Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, plus the E3 Saxo Classic, and in the first monument of the year, van der Poel played a key role in helping Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate, Jasper Philipsen to the win at Milano-Sanremo. "Van der Poel is capable of rising above himself in one-day races," Zonneveld notes.

"And he is physically capable of setting a five-minute mark once or twice to top the Roche-aux-Faucons within 10 or 20 seconds of the best," he continues, looking at the data. "Not only are his one and two-minute values good, but he should also be able to handle five minutes. The Roodhoodts have said for years that Fleche Wallonne might suit him even better. Even if you convert it to watts per kilogram. He has so many watts that he can still make it."