"I didn't have to do anything special anymore for Mathieu," 37-year-old warrior Mollema shows himself at World Championship

With all his experience, he had already informed national coach Koos Moerenhout of his plan: to be in good shape at the World Championships. After missing the Tour de France, he took a break, but good old Bauke would be there again in Switzerland. And lo and behold, after good performances in the tough Canadian races, we saw the shrugging Dutchman competing for a medal in the (pre)final.

"It was a very tough, brutal course. It went very hard three or four laps before the end when Pogacar was already ahead, and Belgium tried to close the gap. Then everything exploded, and after that, it was every man for himself and going deep," Mollema said. "I felt good, so I was pleased with that. The last twenty kilometers were difficult, which was unfortunate. But I'm happy with the form I had."

So what was he thinking when he saw the Slovenian wrecking ball go with a hundred kilometers to go? "I didn't even see Pogacar take off, but in Montreal, he went early too. You know it's a special one, and if you can finish like that, you are the well-deserved winner. We were pretty close behind, although Mathieu said he wasn't super anymore. He still finished third in the end, so that wasn't so bad," the cyclist from Groningen said with a sense of understatement.

"In the last few laps, everyone was exhausted except for Pogacar," laughed Mollema. "It didn't calm down for a moment. As I said, I didn't notice that he had gotten away. I saw it on a sign from another country. Then it went so fast that everyone was exhausted."

"So there wasn't a lot you could do either. I didn't have to do anything special anymore for Mathieu; he said that it was ruined. But if you can finish third, you're not so bad," the veteran smiled. "The best riders come out on top in such an elimination race. It was a goal to finish as well as possible, which I am delighted with. Such a grueling race, at my age, that's quite nice..."

He said Mollema did not want to go to the Vuelta after not being selected for the Tour. "I wanted to prepare for this World Championship and the Italian classics in a different way after the Dutch Championship. The Vuelta was not the best preparation, so I handled it well. I'm in shape for Lombardy, but more good riders are," he said with a wink to Zurich's new world champion.