“It was somewhat disappointing”: why Mathieu van der Poel decided late on Omloop participation

Mathieu van der Poel will make his debut in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday and is motivated to add the Opening Classic to his palmarès, but does he intend to claim the role of sole team leader? The Alpecin-Premier Tech rider says no.

"Not all the pressure is on my shoulders," says the former world champion. "I always start with ambition, but with Jasper Philipsen and Kaden Groves, we also have guys in reserve who can survive and possibly win in a sprint. That creates opportunities. It’s a tough race, but also one that often stays quite closed and mainly a race where it’s hard to make big gaps."

Van der Poel hesitated for a long time before confirming his participation, although he admitted back in mid-January after the Cyclocross World Cup in Benidorm that the Omloop was on his mind. The decision finally came earlier this week, after a week’s holiday and a good build-up following the World Championships in Hulst. "Of course, you don’t lose your form in that short period, but to be honest, it was somewhat disappointing," he admits openly.

"But well, I said before that I wanted to wait and see how I would handle my first training block," Van der Poel continues. "In the meantime, I feel my level is good enough to start in the Omloop on Saturday. Although the final decision was only made on Monday. I’ve watched the race on TV the last few years and always felt it was a shame I wasn’t there. It had been in my mind for a while now to finally start this year."

Van der Poel has a dual motivation for this. "If I ever manage to win it, it would definitely be a beautiful race to have on my palmarès. And an extra race day leading into the weeks and months ahead is never a bad thing."

After the Opening Weekend, Van der Poel will head to Tirreno-Adriatico en route to Milan-San Remo, followed by the Belgian classics. "My spring program has hardly changed compared to previous years. That’s proven to be a successful recipe. So I don’t really see the need to deviate from it," he concludes.