Featured image courtesy of ERIC LALMAND | Credit: Belga/AFP via Getty Images
Going into the 106th Tour of Flanders we had three headlines – no Wout Van Aert, Tadej Pogačar’s arrival and Mathieu van der Poel as outright favourite.
So heading onto the final 13km of flat into Oudenaarde after tackling all the paved climbs and cobbles of Flanders it came down to a rejuvanted van der Poel and a two-times Tour de France champion looking to win De Ronde on debut.
Twice before it has come down to a two-up sprint for Mathieu van der Poel – one victory and one defeat. This time it was a second sweet taste of glory, albeit a four man sprint to the line, incredible for others to catch van der Poel and Pogačar’s slow cat-and-mouse contest.
A thrilling day in Flanders, here are my five talking points.
Mathieu van der Poel is well and truly back!
As I mentioned before, one has to wonder what has gone through Mathieu van der Poel’s mindset at this race. In 2020 he beat Wout Van Aert to claim his first Ronde title and as defending champion last year he lost out to Kasper Asgreen.
In 2022 though, we saw a finale that no Classics specialist could possibly envisage yet the chances of it happening were strong – Tadej Pogačar in contention.
Leading out the sprint after Pogačar decided not to take a turn, they came into the final kilometre, slowed to a near standstill and van der Poel then launched his sprint.
A chasing duo of Valentin Madouas for Groupama-FDJ and Dylan Van Baarle for INEOS Grenadiers eventually caught up. A gamble for van der Poel not to immediately accelerate but did manage to outsprint both his fellow Dutchman and the Frenchman.
Playing poker, taking a huge risk as van der Poel himself couldn’t really guarantee a victory against Tadej Pogačar in a sprint, the Alpecin-Fenix man did not make the same mistake as last year when Asgreen beat him in a repeat finish.
Credit must go to Mathieu van der Poel, so visibly drained at the finish, that he had to stay within touching distance of Pogačar’s attacks on the Oude Kwaremont twice, the Koppenberg and the Paterberg twice.
At one point the second ascent of the Paterberg, the final climb of the day, looked as if van der Poel was about to be dropped. Making the cut, keeping in contact to Pogačar’s wheel, Mathieu van der Poel held on and made up the effort.
A second victory at the Ronde van Vlaanderen, this man is a huge talent who keeps on delivering at pace. Yellow jersey and Tour de France stage achieved, numerous Classics won and a Giro d’Italia to come, it’s amazing what we could yet see further into the season.
The bounce back of van der Poel after a frustrating back injury is incredible as nobody ever believed he would make the Spring Classics let alone the Tour of Flanders.
The hilly Ardennes classic Amstel Gold is to come, a race he has won before and he could yet avenge his defeat from Paris-Roubaix last year to win a third career Monument.
A first chink in Pogačar’s armour?
Going into the race I seriously doubted the chances of Tadej Pogačar on the basis that he cannot surely win everything. After riding Dwars door Vlaanderen in the week he did all in his power to close a gap to the leading favourites but didn’t.
Who was I indeed anyone else who seriously doubted him. Another sublime performance from the young Slovenian, who did not have any Flanders experience, was previously untested on cobbles and on the day was the strongest rider among the peloton.
But in the end Tadej Pogačar for the first time in his young career on the back of two Tour’s and two Monuments had to suffer defeat.
At one point it wasn’t looking great with 90km to go when a attack featuring Jumbo-Visma, Quick-Step, Trek-Segafredo and INEOS Grenadier’s British rider Ben Turner all formed.
UAE-Tem Emirates did help Pogačar out and in the end on the second ascent of the Oude Kwaremont, that’s where the race really lit up. The cut was then made on the Koppenberg when Pogačar attacked, van der Poel followed and Madouas coupled with Van Baarle managed to make a move off the front.
With Madouas and Van Baarle then caught on the third and final climb of the Kwaremont, it was only Pogačar and van der Poel left to keep the fight on the Paterberg. If only Pogačar had distanced the Dutchman on the climb, we may have been looking at a different story.
A finale where Tadej Pogačar simply fluffed a chance to launch a sprint early. Valentin Madouas and Dylan Van Baarle coming across to take third and second respectively knocked Pogačar off the podium, a little complaint as he felt boxed in, but there wasn’t enough to lodge foul play about.
Cycling hasn’t seen a rider like Tadej Pogačar in so many years. A multiple Tour de France champion who is capable of winning not just hilly Monuments but even the holy grail of all the cobbled Classics.
A first sign of defeat and frustration from Pogačar despite being the strongest rider in the race and coming fourth.
Losing is not something Pogačar is used to let alone cycling fans. This Flanders defeat does leave talk of invincibility slightly scarred but now comes the next chapter – Pogačar will be back to win Liège–Bastogne–Liège again and attempt to win a third Tour in a row.
The frustration at losing Flanders when it was within his grasp means all the disappointment will now be released upon the upcoming races he takes part in. And we also know another thing for certain – Tadej Pogačar will be back to race the Ronde van Vlaanderen again, exciting editions of this epic parcours are yet to come!
A deserving second for Dylan Van Baarle
While teams such as Jumbo-Visma and Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl faltered it was actually a good day for INEOS Grenadiers and Groupama-FDJ for Dylan Van Baarle and Valentin Madouas.
INEOS would’ve hoped for better in Tom Pidcock, but to Van Baarle’s credit he gave himself a magnificent head-start by following British rider Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious) just after the first Paterberg ascent.
To take back the lead Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel had and sprint for second, it’s a terrific result for Van Baarle, a Dutch rider who has gone from team to team, is a great time trialist and I think is an unsung hero in the peloton. Whether it’s acting on domestique role for INEOS at the Tour de France or having a go at the Classics, the Dutchman has got everything.
Third for Valentin Madouas, where Groupama-FDJ will also be pleased to see Stefan Küng take fifth. Madouas wouldn’t have been a name on everyone’s mind going into De Ronde but to be fair he did take seventh at the E3 Saxo Bank Classic last month and the mountains classification at Paris-Nice.
There is also family connections here too. While the last French winner of the Tour of Flanders was Jacky Durand way back in 1992, Valentin Madouas’s father Laurent Madouas came fourth at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 1996 when riding for the Motorola Team with Lance Amrstrong.
Who knows what could happen next for the 25-year-old from Brittany, the Ardennes Classics are on his radar next.
Jumbo-Visma and Quick-Step flop
In among the top ten, apart from INEOS Grenadiers and Groupama-FDJ, Bahrain-Victorious managed to see both Dylan Teuns and Fred Wright finish sixth and seventh, and Trek-Segaredo will probably feel a little disappointed that Mads Pedersen couldn’t sustain an early acceleration in the race to eventually finish eighth.
In the end, two teams who went into the Tour of Flanders came out of the race slightly diminished. A ninth place result for Jumbo-Visma’s Christophe Laporte was actually impressive because the Frenchman did crash earlier on the route, but looking at their roster without Wout Van Aert you’d think that they could still muster at least two riders in the top ten.
Tiesj Benoot finished 12th and Mike Teunissen 19th. Without Van Aert Jumbo-Visma lost their focal point and in Julian Alaphilippe Quick-Step lost theirs.
You have to go back to 2013 when a Quick-Step rider did not finish inside the top ten. The best they managed this year was defending champion Kasper Asgreen to take 23rd, the Dane suffering from an inopportune mechanical on the Koppenberg.
One positive was former winner Alexander Kristoff achieving a top ten for Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux. For a powerful sprinter it is quite brilliant to see the Norwegian able to climb too. Chapeau all round!
British prospects are bright
One final point to make is that while Tom Pidcock was left out of contention, there are still many more Classics for him to take part in. His INEOS Grenadiers teammate Ben Turner managed to take 35th and was present among the big moments of action and at Bahrain-Victorious, seventh for Fred Wright is very encouraging for the future.
