Wout Van Aert climbs the ladder of E3 favourites in absence of Tadej Pogacar: "If he's not there, it increases our chances of winning"
Cycling
Tadej Pogacar will be absent at the E3 Saxo Classic this Friday, which means the main story of the race will revolve around the first big road clash between Mathieu van der Poel and Wout Van Aert. The Belgian has kept his cards close so far, but there will be nowhere to hide against his great rival.
So there will not be three, but two big favorites racing for the victory on Friday. "It will of course influence the race," says Grischa Niermann, sports director of Van Aert at Team Visma | Lease a Bike, about the absence of Pogacar. "But there are still strong riders and teams. Van der Poel is still there as a favorite."
Despite Pogacar not appearing at the start, it will always be a beautiful race according to Niermann. On the other hand, the eyes are shifting more to Van Aert and thus Visma | Lease a Bike. A disadvantage for the Dutch team and the Belgian rider? "We'll see. We are mainly looking at ourselves, because we want to do well and perform."
Niermann, who spoke to the press and In de Leiderstrui before the start of the WorldTour classic Brugge-De Panne, sees the advantage of Pogacar's absence. "I would say: we also want to beat Tadej Pogacar. But if he's not there, that takes away a big competitor. So on the other hand, that also increases our chances of winning."
From the big three, nobody seems to have Gent Wevelgem on race programme which opens possibility for another rider to win. Visma would like to strike with sprinter Olav Kooij who showed that he's no stranger to longer races at recent Milano-Sanremo.
"That [absence of Van Aert, Van der Poel and Pogacar, ed.] will be different for Sunday," the German continues. Then all three tenors will be conspicuous by their absence. "That is why we are starting with Olav Kooij," Niermann explains the choice for Kooij. The chance of a group sprint is more than present. "He certainly has a good chance."
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- i watched the race. jasper and roodhooft have a legit anger about this. alpecin burned everyone to pull it back. they did the SAME THING after the split in E3, burning all their guys and thus leaving mathieu to fend for himself (which worked out ok because van der poel is van der poel, but still…). yeah, christopher and jasper should be a little pissed this time.OCexile30-03-2025
- Mads, Ganna, MvdP, Pogi were all in MSR, and will all be in both RVV and PR, the problem here is Remco because he doesn't race anything. This year because of injuries, before that, no idea why notvappaxbipmv30-03-2025
- Will it take oil money to get Mads, Remco, Tadej, Ganna and MVDP to line up for the same classic or monument or will Lady Luck help us with this one.Mistermaumau30-03-2025
- Reminds me of Jungels, instead of discovering what’s wrong, obsessing with getting back to form and making it worse. Could even be he’s built up this mental blockage due to concentrating too much on duelling with (a usually better) MVDP for 15y instead of doing his “own thing”. He was never as good in his head as when he was enjoying exploring his possibilities in the Tour when there was no risk of having to compete with his arch rival.Mistermaumau30-03-2025
- I’m using it here to describe the full pattern of speech. Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia, and all that.RidesHills30-03-2025
- That finale in Barcelona has to be one of the most beautiful circuits ever raced on. Chapeau to Primoz Roglic on taking charge of the race like that, and earning himself a very nice victory.
santiagobenites30-03-2025 - As predictable as the sun coming up in the morning.santiagobenites30-03-2025
- Kind of the best time for it ;-)Mistermaumau30-03-2025
- Very impressive today, promising for the rest of the season.Mistermaumau30-03-2025
- Roglic mirrored so many of his wins, but in GC: wait until the end, then pull a strong win from a tight group. What a great performance, a solo ride (so rare for him), and now he’s got over 90 wins. Amazing rider.RidesHills30-03-2025