Van der Poel regrets the absence of Van Aert and Stuyven in the Tour of Flanders: "Truly a shame, not a fate you'd wish upon anyone"

"The Tour of Flanders suits me well," the world champion explains in a press release. "It's a race with a lot of intervals and climbs that follow each other quickly. It's not too long, but the racing is aggressive. That's what I like." Without the injured Wout van Aert and Jasper Stuyven, and a battered Mads Pedersen, there's no doubt about Van der Poel's status, who says he never considered participating in Dwars door Vlaanderen. "The E3 Saxo Classic-Gent-Wevelgem double was tough enough. We'll never know if I would have been involved in the crash, but of course, it could have happened."

The 31-year-old Vermeersch is an important player for the world champion. The Belgian often makes it far in the Tour of Flanders, which could be crucial for Van der Poel. Given the absence of Wout van Aert and Jasper Stuyven, and the battered Mads Pedersen, all eyes will be on Alpecin-Deceuninck, and then every piece in the final stages certainly comes in handy when a gap needs to be closed.

Van der Poel also laments the absence of his competitors. "It's particularly unfortunate for the Tour, but even more so for Wout and Jasper. You spend months preparing for those two major races, and then a few days before, you're sidelined with an injury. You wouldn't wish that on anyone. I've never made it a secret that I prefer to start with all the top riders. Fair and square. Whether the absence of Wout and Jasper will affect me, you can't predict in advance. It might mean more pressure on me, which certainly doesn't make things any easier."

"On the other hand, Visma-Lease a Bike and Lidl-Trek remain two super strong teams, even without Van Aert and Stuyven. Jorgensen, Benoot, Pedersen, Milan, you name it. For me, the focus remains the same. I'm just going to do my thing. Winning the Tour of Flanders is never easy, and this Sunday will be no exception. How will I approach it? I can't say much about that in advance. It depends on how the race unfolds. Of course, I take my responsibility, but as I said, in my opinion, Visma-Lease a Bike and Lidl-Trek remain two very strong opponents.

Jasper Philipsen, on the other hand, chose to skip the Tour of Flanders with his sights set on his big goal, Paris-Roubaix. Philipsen is scheduled for the Scheldeprijs next week and is thus opting for the same preparation for the 'Hell of the North' as last year. His place will be taken by the world champion among the U23s, Axel Laurance.

Mathieu van der Poel
Soren Kragh Andersen
Silvan Dillier
Axel Laurance
Xandro Meurisse
Oscar Riesebeek
Gianni Vermeersch