Best post-Flanders interview? Rick Pluimers reveals just how brutal the Tour of Flanders really is

In the mixed zone afterwards, Pluimers already had that faraway stare after a punishing edition of De Ronde, but not long before that he had still spoken to NOS. And it is well worth watching back.

“I actually just want to stay lying here, I don’t want to get up anymore. I think I did everything right, but at some point I just couldn’t go on,” said the Tudor rider, who had still been in position with all the top favourites on the Molenberg.

“I couldn’t get over any more climbs and everything hurt. It was quite a suffering ordeal just to make it to the finish, and I honestly don’t know how I still managed it. I wasn’t moving forward anymore and everything was hurting. Even with a tailwind I had to let go of a group, so I just hope I’ll still be able to get up. After 220 kilometres, the best was gone for me, and from then on it was just survival.”

Pluimers eventually finished 66th, almost nine minutes down on Pogačar. “From the Kwaremont onwards, it was misery. That’s a shame.”

“Matteo (Trentin, ed.) was still riding well, but then he crashed,” Pluimers continued, referring to his team leader, who was eventually taken away with a broken collarbone. “More than anything I hope he’s okay, but right now I’m not really taking much in. At one point I started seeing stars.”

So what does a rider like Pluimers do on the Monday after a race like that? “I hope I can sleep, sleep in a bit. Then I’ll wake up, make myself a coffee, have a nice sandwich and spend the whole day on the sofa watching it all back.”