If you’re going to try beat Mathieu van der Poel, you’d better have a dang good plan. The Dutch phenom is uncanny in his ability to win one-day races at will when he decides one suits his interests, as he showed this spring during the Classics, winning in Flanders and Paris-Roubaix just a week apart. With van der Poel returning to Paris for the men’s Olympic road race, many were predicting another run-away win for the unstoppable talent.
The Belgian team had other plans.
On Saturday, the four rider-squad delivered Remco Evenepoel to an unprecedented victory under the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. The former world champion became the first man to win the Olympic road race and Olympic time trial in one Games. While Evenepoel leaves France with the medals, his road race gold was a team effort a week in the making.
In the post-race press conference, Belgian national coach Sven Vanthourenhout, laid out a plan so perfect not even a flat tire could deflate their effort.
A week’s effort into one race
The team’s road race strategy started from the moment Evenepoel and compatriot Wout van Aert shared the men’s Olympic time trial podium, winning gold and bronze. That sensational effort allowed the team to publicly downplay their chances of success in the road race. Who could foresee the Belgians winning again after such an effort?
“That allowed us to bluff a bit in the first hundred kilometres,” an emotional Vanthourenhout revealed after the historic road race victory. After letting the other teams work during the opening stages of the race, the Belgian’s sent hard man Tiesj Benoot out to ramp up the pressure.
“We let Tiesj ride,” Vanthourenhout shared, “But in such a way that the rest would feel it too. Half of the peloton had to sit on their last legs.”
A matter of Mathieu and a golden sacrifice
What that put much of the field under pressure, the Belgian squad knew they would still have to find a way to neutralized Mathieu van der Poel. A two-pronged plan, requiring two of the world’s best racers, was in place before the race began.
Assuming, correctly, that the Dutchman would attack on the cobbled climb up Montmartre, Belgium planned to attempt a counter.
“Nobody, absolutely nobody in the world can ride up a…
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