Mathieu van der Poel doubles down on E3, with hand seemingly fine after Milan-Sanremo

Van der Poel was beaten by Tadej Pogačar in Milan-Sanremo last Saturday, after earlier this season already winning Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and taking two stage victories at Tirreno-Adriatico. His form had looked so strong that defeat in Sanremo came as a surprise to many.

The Dutchman did not spend much time dwelling on that loss. Pogačar was simply better, while Van der Poel admitted immediately after the finish that he was “not super” himself in Sanremo. On social media, Van der Poel also appeared under a post from the Slovenian, where he effectively labelled Pogačar the GOAT with a goat emoji — a response that said plenty about the respect between the two rivals.

Van der Poel himself will have taken some rest after La Primavera, especially after also carrying some physical damage away from Saturday’s race. Following Pogačar’s crash, a bike struck his hand and he injured a finger in the process. It was visibly bleeding by the time he crossed the line. In his post-race reaction, Van der Poel explained that he had initially thought he had escaped the crash, only for another bike to come in from the left and hit his hand hard.

In the HLN Wielerpodcast, Oliver Naesen (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) had already reassured everyone. He said he saw Van der Poel at the airport on Sunday and noticed only “a normal plaster” on the finger. “There was no cast around it, so I think it was just a cut.”

That was reinforced by Tuesday’s E3 Saxo Classic recon from Van der Poel and Alpecin-Premier Tech. Brother David van der Poel was there too and explained on Vals Plat that Mathieu had already been back training again.

Van der Poel — who was also photographed by Alpecin-Premier Tech Instagram during the recon — will return on Friday in search of that winning feeling again. He has won E3 in each of the past two years, which means he now heads into this edition chasing a hat-trick in Harelbeke.

Traditionally, E3 is an important dress rehearsal for the rest of the spring, with the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix looming as the major goals. This year, however, many of the very biggest names are not expected to line up. Pogačar and Wout van Aert are both set to skip the race, leaving Van der Poel as the clear headline act.