Van der Poel ‘in his own league’ after victory in ‘cobbled hell’

ROUBAIX: Mathieu van der Poel towered above his rivals to retain the ‘Hell of the North’ Paris-roubaix bike race title on Sunday, a week ater burnishing his reputation with his third victory at the revered Tour of Flanders.

Wearing the reigning world champion’s rainbow jersey, the 29-year-old Belgian isn’t so much the man to beat, as the man who almost cannot be beaten.

For cycling purists, the Tour of Flanders is an unofficial world championships, and last Sunday Van der Poel crushed all his rivals in the race.

Heisalreadyoneoftheall-timegreatsofone-day road cycling, and he was cheered over every cobble on the final 60km of his solo break and lauded by his current key rival Mads Pedersen on arrival.

“Mathieu was in his own league,” said the Danish Lidl Trek rider who shot to fame winning the Yorkshire world championships in 2019.

“He’s impressive. I just couldn’t follow him. And I’m at a loss as to how to beat him. I was at 100 per cent.”

Van der Poel won two of cycling’s super-long five monuments in 2023, but in March, rather than protect his Milan-san Remo, Van der Poel led out teammate Jasper Philipsen who sprinted to victory.

Having passed up his chance to win the first monument of the season he has now won the following two in just two weeks.

“I could only have dreamed of this, but winning all these races while being world champion, is amazing,” Van der Poel said Sunday. He described his latest win as “a special moment, a cool day,” that won’t last forever.

MAN FOR ALL SEASONS: Van der Poel also stars on the winter mud of cyclo-cross and won a sixth world championship in February.

On his first Tour de France in 2021, he setled a blood debt for his famous grandfather, French rider Raymond Poulidor, who never wore the leader’s yellow jersey despite eight final podium finishes.

On stage two, Van der Poel atacked repeatedly and escaped for good with a finishing rampage over the Mur de Bretagne to win the stage and take the overall leaders jersey, an honour Poulidor missed by a whisker so many times.

Against the odds, Van der Poel defended the Tour de France lead for six swashbuckling days.

His riding atracted a fresh generation of fans to the Tour de France, though some felt his style too aggressive and detractors said his all-in approach was distorting the usual strategy of the 21-day marathon.