Mathieu van der Poel can only tip his cap to ‘phenomenon’ rival Tadej Pogačar at the Tour of Flanders.
Cor Vos
Mathieu van der Poel went into Sunday’s Tour of Flanders hoping to take a record fourth title in the race, but the Alpecin-Premier Tech star didn’t quite have enough to overcome the defending champion. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG) put Van der Poel to the sword on the final trip up the Oude Kwaremont.
Van der Poel had ridden a canny race up to that point, but when push came to proverbial shove, Pogačar was just better.
“I was riding 650 watts and couldn’t hold the wheel. Cycling is simple. I had to submit to the law of the strongest,” Van der Poel acknowledged afterward.
If the most common estimates of Van der Poel’s weight of 75 kg are accurate, those power numbers would equate to a whopping 8.67 W/kg.
“I hung on for a bit after that and got a little closer on the flat section of the Oude Kwaremont, but he still had an acceleration left,” Van der Poel said. “Then I broke.”
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