Pedersen brought vibrancy to the race, but lacked the expected fortitude in Flanders: "Anything beyond 450 watts was too much"

"Mads clearly did not have a very good day. He was not very good," the 50-year-old Dutchman kicks off his analysis. "Anything beyond 450 watts was just too much. He noticed that he could not dig deep. And so that's just the impact of that blow. He was not bad, but also not in very good shape. Mads did hit the ground at 70 kilometers per hour. He rolled quite a bit and I think he paid the price for that here."

In short, clear words from De Jongh, who then goes into more detail on the attacking race tactics of the Danish superstar. "Mads therefore chose not to stay in that group with the favorites. He just couldn't deliver his power and said that he was going to be dropped anyway. That's why he tried an attack. However, the favorites behind rode very hard, so there was nothing to be done."

"It's wait and see," he emphasizes again. "I think first of all we should be happy that he was able to ride consistently in the Tour. If you add up those steps he took from the fall on Wednesday until now, we should really be happy that he finished like this. Riding in the spotlight like that might not have been necessary, but he definitely added vibrancy to the race."

In the Hell of the North, Pedersen will then have to try to compete with a world champion in form. What is it actually like to race against such a seemingly unbeatable character? "You need strong teams to take on Van der Poel, but there aren't any at the moment," the former pro clearly states. "At Lidl-Trek, we are battered by the loss of Jasper Stuyven, Visma | Lease a Bike by the loss of Wout van Aert. Forming teams under those circumstances is very difficult. Tadej Pogacar normally has the quality to beat him. But if he is not there, Mathieu is in a league of his own."

A silver lining - although it was somewhat expected by now - for Lidl-Trek was Skujins, who ultimately pulled off a nice tenth place. "Toms really rode very well again," De Jongh says of the strong Latvian. "He has been growing for a few years now. It's very nice to see that he continues to make progress. In Strade Bianche, we already saw how good he is. Today he finishes tenth and thus shows again that he is in good shape. And that in such a difficult race. Nothing but compliments to him."

In Paris-Roubaix, we should not look forward to Skujins, who is expected to especially play an important role in the Ardennes classics. "He will definitely not ride Paris-Roubaix. Mathias Vacek will replace him. Toms will then prepare for the Amstel Gold Race, the Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. After all, we also need a strong team there."

The 32-year-old hard rider himself also reacted after the grueling race in the Flemish Ardennes. "It was tough. I felt good, but had to walk on the Koppenberg," he says. "We wanted to ignite the race early on, but maybe we were a bit too enthusiastic. In the end, we participated and animated the race. Mathieu rode his own race, but we fought for the podium."

"It would probably have been better if I had gone in Mads' place, but he once finished second here with a long-distance attack," he concludes. "He can keep going, so it was good for him to be at the front. He almost succeeded, but maybe it was a bit too far."