Mathieu van der Poel’s third victory in the E3 Saxo Classic on Friday was not a demolition. Not only was he nearly caught in the final kilometre by a strong chasing group, but his gap was never massive, not growing over 30 seconds for a long time after his earliest attack. Several times during the race, the Dutchman looked catchable.
First following Tim van Dijke (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) on the Taaienberg and then going through and past the next group to chase solo towards the head of the race, Van der Poel was strong but not unstoppable.
His gap did not balloon and keep going out, as we might see with a Tadej Pogačar solo raid. In fact, with still 50km to go, he was not yet in the lead and hovering only 30 seconds ahead of a group containing riders like Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike) and their teammates.
Article continues below
Even in the finale, as the four chasers – who attacked out of the hesitant larger group – narrowly failed to catch Van der Poel, the remnants of the peloton were closing in fast but not fast enough, eventually finishing just 24 seconds down on the winner.
The team with the most numbers – and a strong rider in Van Dijke – initially opted for a more aggressive approach, sending a lone Jan Tratnik in pursuit of Van der Poel, which failed. They then missed the four-rider chase group that broke away from the main group, and only then committed to chasing as a team.
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…