While Mathieu van der Poel was off doing his usual solo destruction en route to a third straight win at the E3 Saxo Classic, Nick Zukowsky was living a very different version of the same race, one that probably hurt just as much.
A long day out front
The Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team rider came in with a clear brief: get in the break. Simple enough on paper. Less so in reality. Either way, the Sainte-Lucie-des-Laurentides, Que pro has been having a great year and is in great form. He’s been in all kinds of long moves so far in 2026, and also took a career best GC result at Paris-Nice. The former national champ finished a very impressive 14th at a tough edition of the Race to the Sun.
Nickolas Zukowsky shines in Paris–Nice with career-best WorldTour GC finish
“The plan was for me to get in the break, but I was kind of the only one going for it, more or less,” Zukowsky said. “So I had to be smart about it.”
Break sticks
It took time, he said, around 25 to 30 kilometres of patience, before things finally snapped. When they did, Zukowsky helped light the match.
“I kind of initiated the breakaway, really,” he said to Canadian Cycling Magazine. “There were three of us for a while… we only had like 20, 30 seconds. So we were riding pretty hard for a good while.”
More riders bridged, the gap stretched, and for a moment, the move looked like it might stick. Well, maybe. Behind them, a stacked bunch kept the pressure on, turning the early move into a long, grinding effort rather than a free ride up the road. It was when eventual winner Mathieu van der Poe (Alpecin-Premier Tech) launched that things looked a little more sketch. He would join the break, and then things went south for the escape.
Van der Poel goes nuclear
By the time the race hit the final climbs, where Van der Poel blew things apart, the early effort started to bite.
Mathieu van der Poel, Photo: James Bunga
Nick Zukowsky, Photo: James Bunga
“Maybe that’s what I paid for a bit at the end,” Zukowsky said. “I felt pretty good all day… but then when they caught us, I was already kind of on the limit.”
What followed was a familiar Classics spiral: from hanging on to hanging off. Still, he was pleased with his ride, plus, many of his Belgian teammates gave him some intel about the race, so Zuke was stoked that he executed the plan.
“The next two climbs, I just completely capitulated,” he said. “Feeling pretty good to pretty empty,…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…