Cycling, Flanders: Van der Poel’s success, Pogacar only fourth

A game of glances. A finale of crazy tension. The three accelerations of Tadej Pogacar on the Old Kwaremont and on the Paterberg. Mathieu Van der Poel wins the Tour of Flanders 106 in those 50 meters in which, on the terrible pavé of the Paterberg at 22%, he manages not to lose the Pogacar wheel. And then his strength in launching the two-man sprint with the Slovenian at 250 meters when the Dutch Van Baarle, second, and the French Madouas, third, return from behind. The sprint near the Museum of Flanders directed by Freddy Maertens, under a light drizzle, and then the hug with his girlfriend Roxane. Pogacar, fourth, complains for having remained closed, but it is he who has made a mistake in setting the sprint, and then restarting almost from a standstill is complicated even for a champion like him. However, fourth place does not do justice to the Slovenian’s exceptional race.

Career Fourth in 2019, first in 2020, beating Van Aert in the sprint, second in 2021, surprisingly surpassed by the Danish Asgreen, Van der Poel at the age of 27 hits the encore in the Corsa dei Muri, his race: he was born in Kapellen, Belgium, and his fiancée, Roxane, is Belgian. Son of Adrie and grandson of Raymond Poulidor, VdP is the icon of young and bold cycling. Always without gloves, to have better driveability and better “feel” the bike, capable of out-of-the-ordinary feats: as in the Tirreno-Adriatico 2021, or in the Traverso delle Fiandre in Waregem, with an attack 91 km from the finish. Today he gives Holland the twelfth victory in 106 edition, and his nation becomes the second behind Belgium (69) and ahead of Italy (11).

Symbols Van der Poel and Pogacar the “born ready”, symbols of a cycling without tactics. Their personalities are so overwhelming that their companions are concerned only with getting them safely to the point of confrontation: then they do. An almost old-fashioned cycling, like when Moser and Hinault, Moser and De Vlaeminck, Moser and Merckx challenged each other. On the day when Van Aert, the Belgian nation champion and archrival of him, is in the pits for Covid, Van der Poel also takes revenge on the fall at the Tokyo Olympics on a mountain bike. He who has won 4 cyclocross World Championships and on mtb makes an appointment at the Paris 2024 Games. Returning to the Milan-Sanremo after having to interrupt the cyclocross winter at the second race due to back problems, VdP demonstrates that at the table of the greats the place central is his. He is four years older than Pogacar, he will never win a great tour unlike Pogacar, which combines great tours and Monuments, but since he has landed on the universe-street the rules of the game have changed.

Calendar The Northern campaign continues on Sunday in Holland with the Amstel Gold Race and then, on Easter day, there is the Paris-Roubaix: the date with the Amstel has been reversed to coincide, Sunday 10 April, with the French presidential elections . Then on Wednesday 20 April the Freccia Vallone and Sunday 24 April the Liège-Bastogne-Liège. As for the other races, on Monday 4 April the Tour of the Basque Country starts in Spain with Roglic, Alaphilippe, Ulissi and Evenepoel, and from Tuesday in France Pippo Ganna returns to race in the Sarthe Circuit. The next race in Italy is the Giro di Sicilia from 12 to 15 April, with Nibali and Caruso.