Mathieu van der Poel said at the start on Thursday morning that it would be “edge” and his mask immediately fell off when Julian Alaphilippe attacked yesterday.
Van der Poel sent out, then came back twice, but the climb was simply too ambitious. He admitted that himself.
“I didn’t feel so good and I couldn’t keep up with the pace. It was a tough finish. Maybe too heavy, but I didn’t have my best legs either,” he said yesterday.
“Is he worried? No, absolutely not”, teammate Gianni Vermeersch added today. “This is the preparation for the classics to come. We are working well here.”
“We just need training to raise our form that little bit.”
“But we have already won a stage and our Tirreno has already passed. We are looking forward to the classics. Our confidence is good, certainly.”
