It came as a complete surprise on Saturday, but the fact that Mathieu van der Poel ultimately also ‘simply’ came out on top in Benidorm was of course a lot less. In fact, he only seems to be getting stronger, bad news for Wout van Aert & co.
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Quick decision
The game was already over in the first round. Although Van der Poel had not planned to isolate himself so quickly. “That was a bit unexpected. I didn’t expect it to turn out like this beforehand. But after one lap together with Tibor (Del Grosso, ed.) I got a nice gap at the start-finish line,” the Dutchman told Wielerflits.
From then on the ‘game plan’ changed: “Then I wanted to make the match tough, because otherwise you could be in a tight spot for an hour. I immediately got a nice gap and knew that at some point they would start looking at each other.”
Top form is yet to come
And so Van der Poel achieved another victory. The most worrying thing for his colleagues on the road is that he is only getting better, partly due to his current training block in Spain.
“I am very happy. I think I have taken a step,” he sounds confident. “After two weeks of training I felt a bit tired, but I was still able to ride a good race, so I’m happy with that.”
Van der Poel really wanted to peak at the World Cup, and then take that top form into the spring. “I have the impression that we succeeded. Despite the fatigue, I had the feeling that there was a little more power today. I am happy with that.” Van Aert, Pogacar & co have already been warned!
