Van Dongen: Visma | Lease a Bike take clear stance on Van der Poel — “This was not weakness”

It starts with Hagenes. The Norwegian has long been regarded as one of the great talents of his generation. He became junior world champion in Leuven in 2021, won the Course de la Paix, and as a trainee with the team then known as Jumbo-Visma in 2023, he already picked up three professional wins: the Drenthe Tour, a hard stage in the Four Days of Dunkirk and the Sparkassen Münsterland Giro.

In 2024 and 2025, he showed flashes of his class, but also had to deal with bad luck through crashes and health issues. Van Dongen was pleased to see it all come together now, at the age of just 22, in a demanding WorldTour Classic. “I think this is Per Strand Hagenes’ breakthrough at the very highest level.”

“In his age group, he was obviously already one of the better riders, and now you can see that riders like him and Alec Segaert are starting to rise to the surface,” said the experienced sports director, who cares deeply about the younger talent in his squad. “At a time when everyone seems to think it all has to happen at 19, riders like him thankfully prove the opposite.”

“Per had already been very strong in other races and had done a very good job for the team, but in terms of result this is extremely impressive in a hard WorldTour race like E3 Harelbeke,” he continued. “When you cross the line in second, your first thought is: damn. Especially when you were so close to bringing Mathieu back. But if you are realistic, and we are, then we simply have to be very satisfied with second and seventh place.”

Second and seventh place, with Laporte taking seventh, and all that without Van Aert or Brennan at the start. “Timo Kielich rode well in the break, although Christophe perhaps was not quite as good as we had hoped. He still finished seventh, but it was not super. One day is not the next.”

The Frenchman had some issues after Opening Weekend and was left out of Le Samyn as a precaution, but he has not yet found his very best legs. Brennan, meanwhile, fell ill in Italy ahead of Milan-San Remo. As for Sunday’s In Flanders Fields, Van Dongen is not expecting miracles from the Briton just yet.

“Wout and Matthew are coming back in as well, so we are moving in the right direction,” Van Dongen explained. “Matthew feels good and arrived in Belgium on Friday evening. I have spoken to him and he will start on Sunday, but he still needs race rhythm. Hopefully he will be on fire again by Wednesday,” the sports director said, looking more towards Dwars door Vlaanderen. Hagenes, incidentally, will not be racing on Sunday.

And what was Friday’s finale worth against Mathieu van der Poel, who went on to win the E3 Saxo Classic? Van Dongen was firm in his assessment. “This was not Van der Poel showing weakness. I’ve already heard that suggestion, but it really was not that. It was down to the race situation and the course, with such a long stretch back to Harelbeke on wide roads and into a headwind. You cannot compare that with the Tour of Flanders.”

“Mathieu went very early, and behind him there were still a lot of strong riders together, so then you know it can become difficult on your own. What Van der Poel is doing is exceptional and extremely good,” said the Visma | Lease a Bike sports director. “The people who don’t rate that properly have never raced themselves.”