Van der Poel on his world championship form: ‘I’m doing well’

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The 2023 world road race championship winner Mathieu van der Poel will defend his title Sunday on a more difficult course than when he triumphed in Glasgow.

The Dutchman is taller and heavier than his two big rivals Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia) and Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) and while he has a glittering classics palmares, has a more modest record on longer climbs.

That makes many feel that Sunday’s race could be a stretch for him. He appears to accept that, while vowing he will give it everything to hold onto the rainbow jersey.

“I estimate Pogacar and Evenepoel will be a step or two higher on this course,” he said, according to HLN.be. “Which makes sense, when you see their season. I did everything I could, it’s a nice goal to work towards.

“I’m looking forward to defending my jersey.”

‘This year is a bit more for the climbers’

Van der Poel has been a very successful world champion, using brilliant early-season cyclocross form as a launch pad for single day success.

He helped Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Jasper Philipen to victory in Milan-San Remo and then went on a stunning run of form, taking first in the E3 Saxo Classic, placing second in Gent-Wevelgem, winning the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, and also taking third in Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

That race perhaps approximates most the kind of terrain he and the other riders will encounter on Sunday, something which will appeal more to Pogačar and Evenepoel.

Still, the fact that those two stand out as clear favorites could, he feels, play in his favor.

“Last year was a course tailored to my needs. This year is a little more for the climbers,” he said. “But they won’t just let me race either. Remco and Tadej will be looked at a bit more than me.

“The first part is especially difficult, the second part is not too bad. But it will be that accumulation that will cost strength.

“For me, based on this year, Tadej is the deserved world champion.”

The Dutchman is, of course, not conceding defeat before the race even starts. He is instead acknowledging Pogačar’s strength and, most likely, also handing a little bit of pressure to him in terms of identifying him as the clear favorite.

That is an accurate assessment but it is also something he may hope will earn him a little more freedom.

Form on track: ‘I was happy with feeling’

While his Tour de France was quieter than expected, and so too his Olympic road race, he returned to winning ways in the recent Skoda Tour of Luxembourg. He took the opening stage there and rode well throughout to end up second overall.

He also took the points classification.

“I’m doing well,” he said. “In Luxembourg I was happy with the feeling, I enjoyed racing like this again. That was a good preparation for the race we get on Sunday.”

As was the case at other points of the season, he did part of his buildup in Spain. Evenepoel was also there and the two of them trained together at times.

The world championship inevitably came up during their conversations but, he says, not that often.

One thing that was discussed was how they would react if they won.

“We do have a victory gesture in mind,” he said. “But I think he’s a little more likely to make it than I am.”

Evenepoel was world road race champion in 2022 and time trial champion the past two years. He also won both the time trial and road race at the Paris Olympics, shortly after taking third overall in his first Tour de France.

Pogačar won there and again at the recent Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, his first race since the Tour.

Those results set out those two riders as the top competitors for Sunday. Van der Poel will however also be a potential winner and will hope to cope with those rivals and either steal a march before the end or triumph in a high-stakes sprint to the line.