Michel Cornelisse on Van der Poel’s bizarre training effort: “He was 30 kilometres ahead of them”

Cornelisse was a guest on the podcast De Grote Plaat. When he was asked which rider he would choose for the spring, regardless of budget, the answer came immediately: “Van der Poel, of course.” “Not only a great rider, but also a fantastic person,” Cornelisse said. “He’s just a very normal guy. And by the way, I think that of the others too.”

Cornelisse also pointed out how Van der Poel has already built an exceptional palmarès — but there are still a few gaps. One of them is Liège–Bastogne–Liège. “For his list alone, that would be nice,” the Dutchman said. “I definitely think he can do it,” he added, looking ahead to the possibility of a win in La Doyenne. Van der Poel has ridden the Ardennes Monument twice so far, finishing sixth in 2021 and third in 2024.

That relatively limited race programme is actually one of Van der Poel’s strengths, Cornelisse believes. “Maybe it’s his quality that he only goes to races when he’s 100 percent. He doesn’t race much, but he wins a lot.” In a way, Cornelisse sees a similar mindset in Tadej Pogačar. “Guys like that don’t go somewhere thinking: maybe I can win. They go there thinking: I can win.”

Cornelisse was full of praise for Pogačar too. “I think it’s on his list to be the first rider to win all the classics. And I think he can do it,” he said. But that still means dealing with Van der Poel. “He still often runs into Van der Poel, who has a slightly better sprint than he does. Then it always becomes difficult.” And when it comes to Van der Poel, the UAE Team ADQ sports director had a story that underlines just how extreme his training can be.

“I once spoke with Planckaert (Van der Poel’s teammate, ed.),” Cornelisse explained. “They were in Calpe. Mathieu was riding alone at 38 kilometres per hour, and they were riding with the whole team at something like 33…”

“After eight hours, Mathieu had ridden more than 30 kilometres away from them,” Cornelisse said, putting the unbelievable workload into perspective. He then compared it to his own experiences from the past. “I used to see it with Jelle Nijdam too. He trained like an animal and I was sitting in the wheel… he won the classics and I won the kermesse races,” concluded Cornelisse, a former winner of Nokere Koerse.