Mathieu’s trick: Van der Poel makes it three at E3 and looks ahead to next job in Gent-Wevelgem

At the familiar key point in E3, the Taaienberg, Van der Poel responded to an acceleration from training partner Tim van Dijke of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. Together with his fellow Dutchman, he bridged across to a chasing group, before leaving them all gasping for air on the very next climb.

What remained after that? The early breakaway, who were all swept up on the Paterberg, and the very long road back to Harelbeke. There, Van der Poel managed to hold on by the slimmest of margins over a chasing group of four, who ultimately hurt their own chances by hesitating and gambling too much in the finale.

Mathieu, congratulations. Was your feeling better than in Sanremo?
“It’s obviously a different race, and Tadej Pogacar wasn’t here of course, but it was one of my better efforts. The wind made it really hard and I suffered badly in the 30 kilometers towards Harelbeke.”

Why did you decide to go so early?
“I got to that group and saw that nobody was going to work with me, so I decided to attack straight away. I was hoping maybe two or three riders would come with me, but at the top I was alone. And once that happened, there was no way back.”

Was it planned?
“No, not really. I saw that we had a gap on the Taaienberg and I didn’t expect many of the others to work well with me. I also already had a gap on a lot of the favourites, so I wanted to make the most of that.”

How deep did you have to go? For example, can it be compared to that ride in Tirreno-Adriatico a few years ago?
“The circumstances are always different, of course, but after all the efforts I had already made, I knew it was going to be a huge job all the way to the finish. I went to my absolute limit and didn’t pay too much attention to the time gaps.”

And then you pull another trick at the end?
“Yes, definitely. I’d actually already given it up, but I knew I would finish last in the sprint if they really got back to me. So I went one more time, seated, as hard as I could, and at exactly that moment they hesitated behind me. That’s how I made it. Deep down I knew that chance was there, or better said: I hoped it would be.”

What will you remember most from this race?
“I’m mainly just very happy that I made it, because it would have been awful to get caught in the final kilometer after an effort like that. I would have been really disappointed with that.”

How was your hand?
“It’s okay. It’s annoying, but the pain isn’t really there. I can race with it.”

'Do you already know if it was partly because of the hand that you had to pass on the Poggio?
“That was more a matter of the legs. Tadej is just very strong, and of course he had also crashed hard.”

How motivated are you now for Sunday, for In Flanders Fields?
“Very motivated, but it’s going to be difficult. I remember that from two years ago as well, when I won E3. It’s a very difficult combination, because you miss a bit of freshness. Hopefully I can recover well for Sunday, and we also still have Jasper Philipsen.”

And towards next Sunday, the Tour of Flanders: who impressed you?
“I didn’t really see that many riders, to be honest.” (laughs)

“But from the guys in the chasing group, we know what they can do. Per Strand Hagenes and Florian Vermeersch have already been in very good shape for several weeks, so I knew it would be tough when I heard they were behind me.”