Van der Poel is brimming with confidence, despite missing Liège recon AND facing formidable Pogacar: "Otherwise, I wouldn't participate"

Mathieu van der Poel says he is fully prepared for the last major event of the spring. In an Alpecin-Deceuninck press release, the team leader reports that after a week in Spain, he is in good shape and ready to head to La Doyenne, a classic he is racing for only the second time.

In 2020, he finished sixth, but in 2024, Van der Poel is aiming higher. The world champion selected his targets and has already won the E3 Saxo Classic, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. In Milan-San Remo, he helped Jasper Philipsen to victory, and in Gent-Wevelgem, he finished second behind Mads Pedersen. His only lesser performance of the season was in the Amstel Gold Race, where he placed 22nd.

Van der Poel did not scout the course in Liège and reflects on the Amstel

"The batteries are recharged," begins Van der Poel, after a few days in the Spanish sun. "Due to bad weather being predicted back home, I chose to fly to Spain on Sunday evening. There, I managed to complete a few good training sessions in preparation for my last goal this spring. I returned to Belgium on Thursday afternoon to scout the finale of La Doyenne with my teammates on Friday, but at the last minute, I decided against it. The weather forecasts were too bad."

Without a course check, but with the information from 2020 in mind, Van der Poel thinks he has sufficient knowledge. "I know most of the roads and climbs," he says matter-of-factly. He is just as matter-of-fact after the Amstel Gold Race, where he didn't have the legs to win. "The lesser result last Sunday didn't make me doubt my good form over the past weeks. No, I didn't have super legs in the Amstel Gold Race, but I wasn't really bad either. Since my spring was already successful, I could afford to take some risks in the finale. It didn't turn out as hoped. But the best riders in the race were at the front, and Tom Pidcock was more than a deserving winner."

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Van der Poel names rivals for Liège and is thinking of winning

In Liège-Bastogne-Liège, we will see a completely different race, so the world champion says. "Of course, you can't compare it to the cobblestone classics, where I was the clear favorite due to Wout van Aert's withdrawal. In Liège, the contenders cannot be counted on one hand. Leading the pack is Tadej Pogacar. We saw in the Strade Bianche that Tadej doesn't need competition to immediately be in top form. He's a pure class act who will be racing on his favorite terrain this Sunday and who has a strong team around him. There's Tom Pidcock. I'm also thinking of Richard Carapaz, Tiesj Benoot, Mattias Skjelmose, Maxim Van Gils, Dylan Teuns, you name it... All guys who have proven in the past week that they are in good shape and who, on paper, are better climbers than I am."

Yet, he has confidence in a good outcome. "I think my form is still good enough to play a significant role in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. And I'm not just talking about myself, but also about my teammates. The results don't show it, but I saw a strong Axel Laurance, Quinten Hermans and Soren Kragh Andersen in the Flèche Wallonne. I think with this kind of quality in the team, we should be able to make something beautiful happen. Winning is possible. If I weren't convinced of that, I wouldn't participate. But things have to fall into place a bit more than in the Flemish classics. We're definitely going to try. One final blast before I take some rest again. As I said, our spring has been successful. Anything extra we can achieve on Sunday is more than just the icing on the cake."