Van Dijke laid foundations in Spain with Van der Poel for Omloop blockbuster: “Saw Mathieu weekly, sometimes daily”

We spoke to Tim van Dijke this winter, when he already made clear he had this date firmly marked. Why? Omloop Het Nieuwsblad — the race where he rode aggressively last year but couldn’t turn it into the result he felt his legs deserved. Twelve months later, he finished runner-up and surprised himself all over again.

Back to the Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe media day, where Van Dijke was motivation personified. “In the Omloop of 2025, I was genuinely impressed with myself. I came back really well from Teide, and I didn’t immediately expect I’d be able to do that,” he said.

He eventually finished 15th then. “The race scenario wasn’t ideal for me because it turned into a sprint race. That was disappointing: the feeling didn’t match the results I had. And I’m just super ambitious. If I feel what’s in there, I want to be able to show a result,” the Zeeland rider explained over the winter.

Fast-forward to the final weekend of February 2026. “I managed to surprise myself again,” Van Dijke said with a grin from ear to ear. “It feels like winning. You’re second, but Mathieu is obviously a class apart. I didn’t think I could do this.”

“I knew I was in good shape because I worked incredibly hard this winter. But doing it today is another thing…,” the proud Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe rider continued. “To show it in a race at the very highest level feels really good, and I think I’ve taken another step.”

To get to that second place, the powerhouse really had to empty the tank — “lactate out of the ears,” as the Dutch expression goes. “The best move? Well, ‘best’… attacking across to Mathieu and Florian after the Molenberg. That went okay, but I never recovered from it.”

Van Dijke then reset, also knowing the rest of his team were sitting in the chasing group behind. “We still had the Berendries, Parikenberg, the Muur and the Bosberg to get over, but we managed it. Whether it was second or third, I knew I had to go full gas to the line with Florian Vermeersch — who is a world-class rider too.”

That he wouldn’t be able to follow Van der Poel when the decisive blow landed was something Van Dijke had more or less accepted. “I trained a lot with Mathieu this winter — and I’ve got a TV too — so I knew how good he was,” Van Dijke laughed.

“We’re often in Spain and we train every day with a group. I joined them a lot this year too. It’s really fun: you spend loads of hours together, and then you naturally end up doing things together as well. Going out for dinner and that kind of stuff.”

So Van Dijke knows better than most how Van der Poel prepared through the winter months. “I saw Mathieu weekly, sometimes even daily. I see how he trains and the choices he makes. In that, he really is an example for me — how unbelievably hard he works. That guy can work so hard and take care of his body… he can just do that more than someone else.”

“Now you feel it in the race, and that’s really cool to experience up close,” concluded the rightly proud rider — who has been putting in the same kind of work himself. “I want to get everything out of myself and only get better. Hopefully I can keep getting closer. The classics are what I destroy myself for every day, and finishing second now is something that makes me really happy.”

February 2026 is done — but what can we expect in March and April? “Still riding finals, ideally in all the classics. Paris–Roubaix is my favourite race, and I hope you’re not rid of me yet — but in the classics it can be over quickly.”