"A million turns" and "just like cyclocross"; what did Van der Poel and Van Aert learn from the 2018 European Championship for Glasgow 2023?

The European title in that year in Glasgow was won by Victor Campenaerts, but it was really the road race four days later that lingered in many people's minds. In the pouring rain, it came down to a sprint with five riders, with Italian Matteo Trentin relegating the then still young Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) and Wout van Aert (Verandas Willems-Crelan) to the other podium positions.

Actually, back then we weren't really talking about the 23-year-old Van der Poel and Van Aert as road cyclists at all. Until then, they had put the heat on each other in races like the Tour of Belgium, Bruges Cycling Classic and Dwars door het Hageland in 2017, but the 2018 European Championship was actually the first time the two met at the highest level. Van Aert had already shown his worth that spring with a third place in Strade Bianche, and Van der Poel was already Dutch champion, but they still headed to races like Boucles de la Mayenne and Tour of Austria, rather than the Tour de France.

Van der Poel even competed in the European Mountain Bike Championship five days before that European Championship on the road, where he wasn't at his best game and dropped out. Van Aert, on the other hand, impressed with the overall victory in the Tour of Denmark, his first general classification victory as a professional. Ahead of that European Championship on the road, the two weren't so much focused on winning the title, but more on 'being at the front' and 'riding a good race'.

Okay, onto that fateful August 12, 2018: in the pouring rain, the riders set off for 230 kilometers of racing, all in Glasgow with no run-ups. Early in the race, it became clear that the twisty course would pose danger, as many riders got a very close look at the asphalt. Favorites like Peter Sagan never even made it to the finish of the European Championships because of that.

In the chaos, a lead group of ten eventually formed, including three duo's from the Netherlands (Van der Poel and Maurits Lammertink), Belgium (Van Aert and Xandro Meurisse) and Italy (Trentin and Davide Cimolai). Jésus Herrada, Pierre-Luc Périchon, Michael Albasini and Nico Denz completed the group, while lagging favourites like Matej Mohoric, Zdenek Stybar and Alexander Kristoff saw their chances slip away on this course.

In the final ten kilometers, Lammertink misjudged a turn, thereby eliminating himself, Meurisse, Denz, Périchon and Albasini from contention. Italy then played the team game perfectly and after a good lead-out from Cimolai, (also former cyclocross rider) Trentin held off a disappointed Van der Poel and Van Aert in the four-people sprint.

The post-race reactions didn't lie after 230 kilometers of cycling in the rain. Trentin revealed that he had spoken with Van der Poel at the beginning of the race, who told him it was "just like a cyclocross". 'What he said was true", stated the Italian. "There were a million turns in the course, it was wet and it was up and down all day. I kept a close eye on him and Van Aert."

Van der Poel himself could live with the result. "The best man won, I can be especially happy with silver. It was an extremely grueling race, it was brutal from the start. That was incredibly tough. There was never a moment of rest, I was not bored for one moment in this race", he told NOS. "Everyone will say that it was very difficult, with this weather, the distance and the course. Conditions like that will weigh heavily on anyone."

Similar words from Van Aert, although he was slightly more disappointed. "I thought I had a chance, but Trentin and Van der Poel were faster. If you can race for the win in the last three laps, you're not happy with just bronze."

So, what can we take away from that European Championship to the 2023 World Cup? First of all, we of course look at the route, which does have some similarities. The lap is one kilometer shorter and of course there's the start from Edinburgh, but Montrose Street (hill of just under 200 meters, but well into the double gradient percentages) is, just like in 2018, the decisive factor. However, this is now located much closer to the finish: 1.4 kilometers from the finish line and immediately followed by a descent, where in 2018 we still had to race 3.6 kilometers and first had a plateau of about a kilometer.

With Scott Street, a similar grueling climb is also included in the circuit, so on paper we may say that the route of the World Cycling Championship is tougher than that of the 2018 European Championships. That's also how Dutch national coach Koos Moerenhout sees it, he told IDLProCycling.com: "I think it's a bit more difficult now. The course has several steep little hills and almost none of the course is straight. Lots of ups and downs, turns and twists and 270 kilometers. I won't say that it will necessarily cause the pack to break up entirely, but it's definitely a track made for racing,"

"It is a fast course reminiscent of a classic. With Mathieu, we have a finisher in the house, who should be perfectly suited to this World Championship route," said Moerenhout. In Belgium, they are banking not only on Van Aert - who himself scouted the course in May on a city bike - but also on Remco Evenepoel and Jasper Philipsen. However, as a cyclocross rider, Van Aert might just have a slight edge on the circuit that counts 42 turns.

Belgian national coach Sven Vanthourenhout, like his Dutch colleague, anticipates a war of attrition. "It's 271.1 kilometers, with 3,570 meters of elevation gain. So, it's an exhausting battle. The local city circuit, moving from turn to turn, sometimes broad and suddenly narrow again, will continuously stretch the group into a line and will ensure that the back door is left open. Once we pass the 200-kilometer mark, the casualties will start to show. Only the very best will remain," he said to the Belgian media. That's a promising outlook for Sunday!