“We felt pressure at times” - Did we nearly see Mathieu van der Poel win Paris-Roubaix in an INEOS shirt?

A remarkable revelation has emerged, suggesting that INEOS Grenadiers once attempted to acquire the entire Alpecin-Deceuninck setup, in a bold move to secure the services of Mathieu van der Poel.

The idea of Van der Poel in INEOS colours may seem difficult to imagine now, but according to team boss Philip Roodhooft, the British outfit once came very close to making it a reality.

“We felt pressure at times,” Christoph Roodhooft admits in an interview with Het Nieuwsblad. “I can still see INEOS boss Dave Brailsford (former INEOS boss) approaching us on the morning of the Amstel Gold Race. In 2019. A few hours before Mathieu would win the Amstel.”

At the time, INEOS were the dominant force in Grand Tour racing, but Brailsford was less impressed with his team’s performances in the one-day races.

“INEOS Grenadiers was still top in the Grand Tours at that time. But, Brailsford said: 'In the Classics my team is shit'. Brailsford did that with a lot of respect, but you could clearly sense where he wanted to go: he didn't just want to take over Mathieu but the whole thing from us.”

And it wasn’t only INEOS. Lidl-Trek also tried to lure Van der Poel away from Alpecin-Deceuninck two years ago, but they too came away empty-handed.

“We came to a good conclusion there too. Again, we talked to Mathieu about it like adults. Did he want to leave? When we felt that that was not necessarily the case, we came up with something ourselves.”

Van der Poel has remained loyal to the Roodhooft brothers’ team throughout, with Philip explaining the strategy behind never letting their star asset’s contract situation become uncertain.

“We were never afraid, but we were alert,” Philip Roodhooft explains. “Just think about it: we never let his contract expire. We always anticipated. If necessary, by having him sign a million-dollar contract just before the race in our truck.”

So why has the Dutch superstar never been tempted to jump ship? According to Roodhooft, it comes down to Van der Poel’s temperament and memory of past struggles.

"That must have something to do with his character," says Philip in the Flemish newspaper. "You have people who, when they are in a good place, still want to change, just out of curiosity. And you have people who calmly stay where they are. Mathieu is probably one of the latter. But he has not forgotten the difficult moments, I am sure of that."