At the Olympics, Mathieu van der Poel was aware of the threat the Belgian squad posed to him. Although his primary competitors did not put him under any strain before to the Paris final circuit, he was aware of Remco Evenepoel’s threat and realized his chances of victory were slim to none once the Belgian made his move.
Throughout the day, Daan Hoole assisted in managing the breakaway for the Netherlands, and Dylan van Baarle contributed as well. As soon as the race reached the last lap in Montmartre, van der Poel launched an attack, initially taking only Wout van Aert with him. But other riders’ unwillingness to cooperation meant that his attack would not hold, and with 38 kilometers remaining, he watched the eventual winner storm up the road.
“I honestly believed that the race had ended there. Four or five men, all strong horsemen, rode away with us. In an interview with NOS, he said, “I thought the race would be between us because we also had a nice gap.” “However, Remco left at the appropriate time when we were discovered again.”
It was a challenging race. I knew it was going to be a tough one the moment Remco left and nobody objected. Not that I went all the way into the red there. It wasn’t too horrible.” However, the triumph had vanished. The last thirty kilometers were complete mayhem, with no radios, riders from multiple teams, and no teammates. He tried to stay in the top groups, but attacks from every angle were too much for him to handle.
“I warned you ahead of time that he was one of the riskier riders to allow ride. Dylan [van Baarle] performed well by minimizing the difference. For once, I gave Montmartre my all or nothing. Wout [van Aert] was riding with me, but he didn’t go very far because Remco was leading. That is the state of race.”
Van der Poel, the World Champion, had a disappointing result as he couldn’t make the difference despite showing his best legs of the day, finishing in 12th position behind the following group. “I think I was good, but it was just a very difficult race,”
Be the first to comment