After E3, Pogačar could win all five Monuments in one year, says Bruyneel: “Who is going to stop him?”

After an acceleration from Tim van Dijke, Van der Poel dropped his final rivals early. “Personally, I think it would have been smarter to keep Van Dijke with him for a bit longer,” Bruyneel said on THEMOVE. “His attack came with 65 kilometres to go: that is far out. And in E3, there is still a long way to race after the hill zone. He showed that he is human. It is incredible that he still won, because I thought he was done.”

So the former team manager still sees enough positives for Van der Poel. In the hills he looked untouchable, and that has to be encouraging ahead of next week’s Tour of Flanders, right? “He is ready, but there is one problem: Tadej Pogačar. That is his problem, and it will be his problem in the races to come.”

Because Pogačar seems better than ever once again. He blew the race apart at Strade Bianche with a solo of more than eighty kilometres, then claimed Milan-Sanremo for the first time, despite crashing shortly before the Cipressa. In La Primavera, he rode Van der Poel off his wheel on the Poggio, and that says plenty about what may be to come in the Tour of Flanders.

According to co-host Spencer Martin, Van der Poel is currently not good enough to beat Pogačar in Flanders. “Who is good enough to beat Pogačar?” Bruyneel replied. “Okay, Tom Pidcock was able to follow him in Sanremo, but without the crash I think Pogačar would have gone solo on the Cipressa and ridden all the way to the finish.”

Pogačar is the top favourite for Flanders, but according to the Belgian, he could go even further than that. “It is genuinely possible that Pogačar wins all five Monuments in one season. The problem with Flanders and Roubaix is that there are external factors, and those are hard to avoid. But he has already won the one that was hardest for him to win: Milan-Sanremo. What is going to stop him?”

Van der Poel may have won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and E3, but not with the kind of dominance the world champion has shown. “Normally, he wins Flanders again. He has a strong team, and you could also see an unbelievable ride from Florian Vermeersch, who came back after a mechanical problem.”