"We are thinking about how we can close the gap on Tadej Pogacar" - Mathieu van der Poel excited to challenge himself in 2025
Cycling
Mathieu van der Poel enjoyed a very successful season on the road in 2024, adding two more Monument victories to his palmares among other successes. In truth though, the performances of the Alpecin-Deceuninck leader were somewhat overshadowed by the brilliance of Tadej Pogacar when looking at the season as a whole.
"Winning the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in the rainbow jersey may well have been the highlight of my career. That is something quite unique," Van der Poel looks back with pride in conversation with Sporza. As mentioned though, Van der Poel's status as world leader and Rainbow Jersey wearer was taken over in 2024 by a rampant Pogacar, who rode one of the greatest individual seasons in cycling history.
As such, the challenge for Van der Poel in 2025 is to get on a level where he can be competitive against Pogacar in the races where they will be rivals. "It will be difficult to beat him, but it is a challenge that I am happy to accept," he previews combatively. "We are thinking about how we can close the gap on Pogacar. Because that will be necessary to beat him in the Tour de Flanders."
"Perhaps that can be done by slightly different and more difficult training," he continues, noting how his attention and focus is already partially on the coming Spring Classics campaign. "That is why I am skipping the World Cup cross in Benidorm, for example, because a training camp in that same period will make me better towards the spring."
The main thing Van der Poel has in sights heading towards 2025 though, is to adopt a more positive mindset. "I am really annoyed by the narrow-mindedness of people. Not only in sports, but also in other areas. I think that so little is allowed these days and I have a hard time with that. People don't grant each other that much anymore. That's a shame," he concludes. "Hopefully we can all be a little more positive this year."
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- he can do what he wants, and if he can state his feelings, so can I. and my feeling is, it is fun to see the best riders in the biggest race. there are always stages to go after. and racing is more fun with an MVDP to cheer for. and to the point of the other guy, he raced 7 races prior. he will do 11 or so cross races. yes he races to win, but as a fan I would really love to see him in the race. I'm being greedy admittedly. to the point of vappaxbipmv, he isn't exactly racing his legs off with the races he has been doing.mij07-01-2025
- Well not his last year, but my argument is he can't he win the Tour. Remember this thread during the upcoming Tour, btw, I do admire Primoz.awp07-01-2025
- He did a convincing display at Ancares doing peak numbers even without optimal preparation in a team that is weaker in grand tours. Sure he's getting older but the narrative that he's in his last year is ridiculous.alsene07-01-2025
- He is not anti-doping. He is pro-whining. He is more than happy to cheer for the dopers he likes and believe in the miracles he likes.
MarkFour06-01-2025 - Froome has found a genuine way to race slow .. no further gears restrictions needed for him. And speaking about safety - this overnight packfodder to GT winner should start with holding the tt bars while descending with both hands. What a clown!!
UltimateOpportunist06-01-2025 - Nice, yeah, if you’re around a 6-7% gradient when they attack you’re not going to see much, it’s not for nothing the steepest sections are so crowded. If on TV you see an overweight fan running along for more than 30m you know they’re nowhere near that speed there;-)Mistermaumau06-01-2025
- Merry Crossmas to you tooMistermaumau06-01-2025
- I respect his anti-doping stance but in trying to rehash everything he’s no longer looking at the changes. It’ not just one or two riders who suddenly improved, the whole peleton has gone through an upgrade. For sure there are still cheaters, may e even amongst the very best but a large part of the improvement is generic and explainable. Even racing itself has changed. There is progress in EVERY sport, constantly, why would cycling be the odd one out?Mistermaumau06-01-2025
- Don’t doubt your cynical side ;-) It’s hardly likely to be true either and he is hardly in a position to judge for others who is best this or that. If he’d just said, he was always good to ME that would have been more truthful and then everyone could draw their own conclusion, now he’s basically shot himself in the foot for nothing (as far as we know).Mistermaumau06-01-2025
- He's the best teammate with Domen Novak cruising Pogi to become Cycling World Champion.
James2631806-01-2025