Mathieu van der Poel shows strength in Tirreno finale: "Plan was to hurt the sprinters"

Mathieu van der Poel provided one of the most striking moments in the final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. The Dutchman from Alpecin-Premier Tech launched a tempo surge on the second climb of the day, significantly thinning out the peloton.

Even after the climb, Van der Poel kept pushing hard at the front for a while. “The plan was to hurt some sprinters. As a team, we executed our strategy well," he said in an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws. Remarkably, Jasper Philipsen, who was supposed to finish things off in the sprint, had to drop off his teammate’s pace and only returned after a long chase.

In the end, most of the other sprinters, except Arnaud De Lie, managed to return to the peloton, setting up a bunch sprint to decide the stage. However, things fell apart for Philipsen due to a crash just before the final kilometer.

“Jasper’s (Philipsen’s) crash didn’t look too bad, but of course it’s unfortunate. This is a missed opportunity for him," Van der Poel commented on his teammate’s crash. Philipsen was still able to finish the stage, placing 129th.