4 Crucial E3 moments through the eyes of Mathieu van der Poel: "It was tough, he was trying to motivate me"

Van der Poel did not get off to a great start, as he, like much of the peloton, was caught up in a crash and had to make up for lost time. This meant some of his teammates had to work much harder than originally planned. "We had quite a difficult race with the team, so I must thank them for a well-done job. I was motivated to finish it," the Alpecin-Deceuninck leader said afterward.

Van der Poel was annoyed with how the race started. "I suffered," he gasped after his solo ride in the pouring rain in West Flanders. "From the start, I was behind a crash. Some teams thought taking advantage of that would be a good idea," Van der Poel complained. "I must thank my entire team for riding in front of me all day. I owe it to them to finish it off. I went pretty deep today, but I'm glad I can reward them with a victory," the Dutch rider repeated.

Ultimately, everything came back together, after which Pedersen, as the favorite, made his move. "In recent years, it has never been decided on the Taaienberg; it always came back together. We immediately opened up a nice gap on Filippo Ganna and an impressive Pedersen. I immediately knew that we could go far with that group," said Van der Poel, who did not see his great rival Wout van Aert back in the race.

Van der Poel was still following Pedersen on the Paterberg but was in the lead one hill further. "I tried to thin out the group on the Oude Kwaremont, so there wouldn't be five of us left." It worked: Van der Poel arrived at the top of the Kwaremont 20 seconds ahead of Pedersen and could continue solo.

"I remember from last year how difficult it was because the wind was also blowing at us at an angle, just like last year. It's a long way to the finish line, but there's always a nice reward waiting for you, so I'm thrilled," said Van der Poel. "I was talking to Christoph Roodhooft: it was tough, and he was trying to motivate me."

What's next? The Tour of Flanders! Van der Poel doesn't know yet whether he will go to Spain next week or stay in Belgium, but he definitely won't compete in Gent-Wevelgem. All his focus is on Flanders, the race he has already won three times. "Not necessarily because it's the fourth, but I always want to perform at my best in the Tour of Flanders. I will have to be in good shape to beat Tadej Pogacar. I have done everything I can to be in the best possible shape for the start of next week," he concludes.