Van Der Poel, Sanremo and Roubaix with record averages

From our correspondent Ciro Scognamiglio

April 11th
– ROUBAIX (FRANCE)

It took him two months to make the revolution. And he succeeded by pedaling not fast, but very fast. “We raced Paris-Roubaix like we were juniors from start to finish – said Mathieu Van der Poel -. It was crazy, but it was fine for me. The harder it is, the better it is for me, especially in the finale”. The Dutchman – more than ever – flying on Sunday won a historic edition of the Inferno del Nord, also because it was the one with the all-time record-average (since 1896): 46.841, not even 5 and a half hours of racing. And if on 5 February he conquered the cyclo-cross rainbow jersey for the fifth time at Hoogerheide, on 18 March his Milano-Sanremo was the second fastest in history, won in Via Roma with an average of 45.773. With an unofficial record recorded on the Poggio of 5’38” (over 3,700 metres) which clearly beat the previous limit almost 30 years old, Giorgio Furlan’s 5’46” in 1994. And that’s not enough, because always speaking of the Tour of Flanders – in which Mvdp was detached and beaten only by a sidereal Tadej Pogacar – was also the fastest ever raced: final average of 44.083. Very fast revolution, yes.

Top

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“Without a doubt, it was my best Classics season ever – the reflection of the 28-year-old Dutchman from Alpecin-Fenix, 4 Monuments won (with Flanders 2020 and 2022) like Pogacar -. The power I’ve developed over the last 50 kilometers… In the past I didn’t have it, I wasn’t capable of it”. The bar in racing is rising a lot, the concept of going for a walk has literally disappeared. Roubaix number 120 on Sunday was yet another confirmation of this, because the first attack of a big name – Wout Van Aert – came when there were 102 kilometers to go to the finish line. While in Flanders – a very tough course with 19 Walls – the first decisive action by Tadej Pogacar arrived on the second pass on Old Kwaremont, 55 kilometers from the finish. Without forgetting the favorable weather conditions – even at Roubaix the wind, although not very strong, was almost always in favor – means that the phenomena of this spectacular era impose their own pace, disregarding calculations and conservative energy management . One gets the impression that the turning point came after the stop due to Covid in spring 2020: at the restart, in rapid succession Van Aert won the Sanremo, Pogacar the first Tour, Van der Poel the first Flanders… Without forgetting the feats of Vingegaard, Evenepoel and Roglic (the latter two expected at the Giro d’Italia), the other three of the sextet that is characterizing this historical phase.

Atmosphere

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On Sunday the André Petrieux velodrome in Roubaix, never so crowded in recent history, was literally delirious for Van der Poel. Although mum Corinne, Poulidor’s daughter, admitted she “wasn’t able to watch the giant screens, because the stress was too much”. It’s just a pity that the final duel in the sprint with Wout Van Aert was missed, penalized by a puncture in the decisive moment at the exit of Carrefour de l’Arbre and then 3rd (with Philipsen 2nd and Filippo Ganna good sixth at the first Roubaix in fact captain’s run). Certainly the balance of the rivalry between Van der Poel and Van Aert is leaning on the side of the former, who now leads 5-3 in the cross-country World Championships and 4-1 in the Monuments: difficult to predict last summer after the Tour de France, in which the Belgian dominated on every terrain while Van der Poel was forced to retire. Mathieu’s photo – whom we will now see again directly in June at the Tour of Switzerland – in the historic showers of the Hell of the North has already become iconic: “I know I’m made for these classics, I changed my preparation a bit and I ran less to be at the top in the big events. Above all, now my back doesn’t give me problems. Did I risk too much in certain corners? Honestly, I’ve always been in control. I know how to ride the bike, I’m more restless when I’m in the middle of the group and not I can control what others are doing. The best moment was when I arrived alone in the velodrome, I was able to release the pressure and let the emotions invade me”.

History

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Van der Poel, 4th to make the Sanremo-Roubaix double in the same year, now counts on 13 top-10s in the 14 Monuments in which he took part, and has won 3 different ones out of the 5 like Pogacar (who has almost 4 years of minus): the debate can be opened on who (and when) will be able to complete the five, given that the Dutchman has already finished 6th in Liège and 10th in Lombardy. Certainly what grandfather Poulidor called “little phenomenon” has become great. And phenomenon, today it is more than ever.