Cyclingflash
Mathieu van der Poel sprints away from elite group by lengths: "Perfect final kilometer"

Mathieu van der Poel sprints away from elite group by lengths: "Perfect final kilometer"

Mathieu van der Poel has secured his second stage win at Tirreno-Adriatico. After winning stage two on Tuesday, the Dutchman struck again on Thursday in stage four. He did so with a powerful display of strength.

"It was a pretty tough day, with a strong breakaway," Van der Poel began in the flash interview afterward. "The pace was very high all day and it was quite cold in the mountains. At the end, Visma | Lease a Bike did really well on the final climb. Then I could play a bit of poker, since I already won a stage. I waited for the sprint and I think I executed everything perfectly in the last kilometer."

At five hundred meters from the finish line, Filippo Ganna made another attack attempt. "I was expecting a late move from him. I also knew Visma wanted to sprint with Wout, so I tried to respond to everything right away. Maybe I launched my sprint a bit too early. It was still quite far to the line with that headwind. But luckily, I was able to hold on."

In the second stage, Van der Poel outpaced his companions Isaac Del Toro and Giulio Pellizzari in an uphill sprint; this time, he was the best in a flat sprint. "It was a flat sprint, yes, but everything leading up to it wasn’t so flat," he smiled in response to that observation. "It was a tough day. I’m glad I could finish it off and I’m happy with my form."