Zonneveld saw a 'sloppy' van der Poel in Flanders: "He was completely exhausted"

No one could do anything to counter the strength and power of Tadej Pogacar on Sunday. Not even Mathieu van der Poel had to admit defeat to the fast pace of the Slovenian on the Oude Kwaremont in the Tour of Flanders. Thijs Zonneveld saw that the world champion was unbeatable. Still, he was occasionally annoyed by the racing behavior of his Dutch opponent, as he explains in his podcast In De Waaier.

In a conversation with fellow podcaster Hidde van Warmerdam, Zonneveld saw things go wrong on the first passage of the Oude Kwaremont, where Pogacar accelerated for the first time. Van der Poel's positioning was not ideal: he had to come from far to catch up. "Van der Poel quickly caught up there; he got back on the wheel with an impressive display of power. But that took a toll on him. Either he should have moved along with Pogacar, or he should have positioned himself better."

On the Kruisberg, van der Poel was at the back of the leading group, while Pogacar - as on every hill - lost more time. Van der Poel again had to close a gap. "There too, you think: he has excess energy. Afterward, he says: I never had excess energy and was always at my limit. From his perspective, I can understand that because he is used to better legs. He is even more used to having a surplus. Perhaps by closing the gaps so quickly, he wanted to say: I am very good. But in retrospect, it exhausted him. I think he handled that sloppily."

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Van der Poel eventually finished third in a sprint

Van der Poel is not good at one thing: dropping back, Zonneveld observes

The showdown came on the last passage of the Oude Kwaremont. The defending champion tried to catch up but then collapsed miserably. "It is quite possible that van der Poel does not fully sense what is going on," Zonneveld says about van der Poel. "I feel that van Aert has a better feel for it and can pace himself better because he often finds himself being dropped. It doesn't happen to van der Poel that often."

"Every time he gives the impression that he is great: he controls everything, he is powerful, explosive, aggressive. But then they turn onto the Oude Kwaremont, and Van der Poel is perfectly on his wheel. But then it's just very simple. Even before the cobblestones, you can see him collapsing. He gets exhausted. His head goes down, his elbows out, and then you see the gap widening."

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Van der Poel's 'disturbing' behavior annoyed Zonneveld: "It's worthless"

Pogacar had a lead of about 30 seconds after the Paterberg. Zonneveld saw opportunities for the chasers there. "You're up against four, with a headwind to the finish: you don't have any chance. But it never looked like it was going to happen.' That was also partly due to van der Poel. 'What van der Poel did in the last kilometers was worthless. What he did was almost disturbing. He is also mentally broken; he puts everything into following Pogacar. He fought the duel, and he rode to win. The others rode for a chance to win."

The victory, however, went to Pogacar, who once again showed that he is the best cyclist in the world. "You would almost forget that this is the winner of the Tour de France, the winner of Liège, who has now won for the second time—the world champion. I have said it before, but he is the best rider ever. And he may be eleven Monument races behind Eddy Merckx, but that was a different era. And he is still so young. While others increasingly focus on specific races, he only expands his range. If this does not significantly impact his tour campaign, he will continue to do so in the coming years."

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