Van der Poel: the “Flying Dutchman” is back

Mathieu van der Poel has undoubtedly just gone through the most difficult period of his young yet rich career. And he came out of it a winner, leaving injuries behind to claim more success in spectacular fashion.

After damaging his back in a severe fall during the mountain bike race at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the Dutch star has suffered a series of physical issues. Following a reduced cyclo-cross campaign and a truncated winter preparation, Van der Poel has signalled a triumphant return to the road.

He was third in Milano-Sanremo on his return to competition and went on to win a stage at the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, and then two UCI WorldTour Classics: Dwars door Vlaanderen – A Travers La Flandre and the Ronde van Vlaanderen – Tour des Flandres, last Sunday in Oudenaarde, where he edged Dylan Van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers) and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) to claim the second Monument of his career. An incredible performance after several months of struggle.

A battered body

The grandson of the late Raymond Poulidor put road cycling aside after Paris-Roubaix, where he clinched third place last October. At that time, the crash that had dashed his dreams of mountain bike glory in the Olympic Games seemed to be far behind the 2019 UEC European Champion in the discipline.

After a demanding season on the road and with his mountain bike, Van der Poel was eager to tackle the cyclo-cross events. But more back pains reduced his season to only two rounds of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup(2nd in Dendermonde; DNF in Heusden-Zolder) before he required a knee operation mid-January.

It was time for Mathieu Van der Poel to reset ahead of his return on the road.

Impressive in Sanremo, imperial in Waregem

Five months after his last UCI WorldTour race, Van der Poel made a surprise return on the “Primavera”. And what a return – third behind Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) and Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies)! It was immediately clear that the 2020 Dutch National Road Champion was in great shape after a long training camp in Spain.

“I didn’t really expect to get to the Classics, because the progress was really slow,” Van der Poel described in a video shared by Alpecin-Fenix. “But then it started to go well. And then the last two weeks I made some really good steps which I and the team didn’t really expect.”

If there was any doubt left at the start of Dwars door Vlaanderen, on 30 March, the 27-year-old champion put them aside with a display of strength up hills and over cobbles, claiming an imperial win ahead of Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma) and Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers).

Already leading the charge 100km away from the line, the wearer of the yellow jersey in the 2021 Tour de France was dominant, isolating himself along with Benoot in the last kilometres before dropping the Belgian in the sprint. That victory made him a hot favourite for the Ronde van Vlaanderen, a status underscored by the withdrawal of Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) due to illness.

A legendary duel with Pogačar

Chasing victory in the 106th edition of Ronde van Vlaanderen, Van der Poel came up against a major opponent: Tadej Pogačar. The Slovenian from UAE Team Emirates was racing the Belgian cobbled Monument for the first time, following his 10th place at Dwars door Vlaanderen, and he impressed everyone, including Van der Poel to begin with.

Pogačar opened up the battle in the ascent of the Oude Kwaremont, with 55km to go. Van der Poel was quick to react, and he never left the Slovenian’s wheel as the two-time winner of the Tour de France dropped every other rival, the Frenchman Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) being the last one to see the stellar duo ride away.

Pogačar put Van der Poel through immense difficulty on the final ascents of the Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg, inside the last 20km. But the Dutchman resisted and eventually dominated an eventful sprint that saw Dylan van Baarle and Madouas return to the front and step up on the podium ahead of Pogačar.

Back at the highest level and after casting his struggles into oblivion, Van der Poel will now turn towards the Amstel Gold Race, Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia to chase further success.