When Mathieu van der Poel throws off all the brakes, the rest of the peloton will know. Despite his young age, Matthew Brennan has already experienced such a moment.
The young top talent from Visma-Lease a Bike has already participated in Paris-Roubaix this year. In the podcast Inside the Beehive he talks about the impression Wout van Aert made on him, but also about the strength of winner Mathieu van der Poel. Brennan was shocked by what he saw the Dutchman do on the bike.
This concerns both ability and technical skills. “I remember having some caffeine very early, which made me very nervous at the start of the cobblestone sectors. I was clinging to the Pogacar wheel. That’s a good wheel to follow in terms of safety, I thought.” Brennan did not have that feeling at all with Van der Poel.
Van der Poel technically inclined
It was a bit like a Formula 1 driver blazing through the corners of a circuit. “Van der Poel was all over the place and went from one side to the other. I wanted to stay far away from that, he is far too technically skilled for me. I saw Van der Poel attack on the Trouée d’Arenberg. I thought to myself, ugh.”
Everyone knows that the stretch known to us as the Forest of Wallers can be a decisive moment in Paris-Roubaix. “You’re tired and then you see a guy drop the biggest wattage bomb you can imagine. That’s the moment I cracked, I think. I made one more effort and then it was over.”
Lots of content at Van der Poel
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When it’s over for a cyclist in the Hell of the North, then it’s really over. It is not possible for everyone to continue with sufficient content until the finish in Roubaix, like Van der Poel.
