"Who can be sure of being stronger than Van der Poel?" - Cyrille Guimard thinks Mathieu van der Poel will win Liege-Bastogne-Liege

Racing in Flanders is over and everyone has to bow before the king of this classics season - Mathieu van der Poel - and Cyclism'Actu's analyst Cyrille Guimard is no exception. According to the Frenchman, Van der Poel will be a man to beat at the Liege-Bastogne-Liege next Sunday too, not seeing many possibilities for other riders to dethrone the reigning World Champion.

"The way he wins, we are in a dimension that goes beyond that of the great riders. This victory on Sunday at Paris-Roubaix is art. The way he slides on the cobbles, his trajectories, the speed with which he goes through the corners on the cobbles, it's well placed... everything was beautiful, there was nothing to take off."

"He is quite simply an artist, as he is in cyclo-cross. In all his victories, there is the trace of someone very talented, but also of someone who brings something extra. He is a character who, in the world of cycling, is absolutely extraordinary because in addition to being a rider, he is the business manager of his own team. It has everything to be appreciated."

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"He will win it all the more easily because he has no pressure... and I'm not particularly talking about this year. He has no obligation to win, he has no obligation to put his team to work all day, and if you don't drop him at the Redoute, it will be much more difficult to beat him."

"A puncher-sprinter-roller like him, you can't drop him on a 2-mile bump when he knows he can have the win behind. So yes, he can win, he's a challenger for the win. And if he wasn't, how many would be initially then? Who can be sure of being stronger than Van der Poel on Liege-Bastogne-Liege? For me, he is capable of it this year."

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