Cancellara’s Classic column: Mathieu van der Poel is human and Lidl-Trek are real contenders

The most obvious takeaway from Gent-Wevelgem is that Mathieu van der Poel is human. He was impressive again on Sunday, but in the end, he lost out to Mads Pedersen. That’s a lesson for anybody who thought Mathieu was going to be unbeatable this Spring after his performance at E3 Saxo Classic. He’s not unbeatable. In cycling, and especially in the Classics, nobody is unbeatable.

I don’t think Van der Poel made any big mistakes by going away in that group so far from the finish. It was just that this was more of an endurance race than an attacking race. At E3, there was more of a stop-start rhythm, and he could hurt his rivals with big accelerations in places like the Taaienberg and Paterberg. Gent-Wevelgem was a hard race too, but very different in style. The pace was more regular, but it was a long, long finale. By the end, everybody was running out of fuel, and Pedersen just had a little bit more left.

The second talking point is also pretty clear. Lidl-Trek did a really nice race, riding as a real team, just like they already did at E3 Saxo Classic and everywhere else so far this Spring. Maybe they don’t have an individual on the same level as Van der Poel or Wout van Aert, but they are compensating for that with their collective strength, and they are racing with a lot of unity as well.

But even though Lidl-Trek’s approach paid off in the end on Sunday, we actually didn’t see their plan work to perfection, because Jasper Stuyven’s puncture took him out of contention. At that moment, coming through the Plugstreets, Lidl-Trek had three riders in the front group of seven. It was a great scenario for them, and I’m curious to think what would have happened if Jasper hadn’t punctured at that moment.

Because of this, I think Lidl-Trek can still ride even better than they did at Gent-Wevelgem. They sent Jonathan Milan up the road to force Van der Poel to chase on Sunday, which was a good move, but they could have done even more interesting things if Stuyven had still been up there. He showed how strong he is right now with his second place in Harelbeke, after all.

In any case, Pedersen was really impressive in the final hour of the race, especially on the last time up the Kemmelberg, where he rode on the front to put pressure on Van der Poel. I also liked how he managed the final sprint. Mads likes to go in a big gear, so when they came to the finish at low speed, I wondered if Mathieu would have something left to accelerate past him. But Pedersen made no mistake. He went early to make sure Van der Poel wouldn’t surprise him.

No robots

All of this means that Pedersen has put himself up there with Van der Poel as a top favourite for next week at the Tour of Flanders. But it’s not just Mads, of course – it’s Mads and Lidl-Trek together. The team is a real top contender for the Tour of Flanders now.

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Pedersen is the figurehead, but he has a co-leader in Jasper Stuyven, which is very useful at a race like Flanders. Van der Poel has a co-leader in Jasper Philipsen too, but for now, Wout van Aert looks like he has a weaker team than them. Christophe Laporte has been a big loss, but Visma-Lease A Bike had a lot of bad luck with crashes in the last two races too. Let’s wait and see what happens for them at Dwars door Vlaanderen before drawing any big conclusions.

Elsewhere, Laurence Pithie did an amazing race at Gent-Wevelgem. To be up there with Van der Poel and Pedersen until the last time up the Kemmel was a really special performance from a young guy with no experience in these races. Even though he’s only 21, it’s going to be interesting to see what Pithie can do at the Tour of Flanders.

Elsewhere, there’s even more pressure on Soudal-QuickStep after Gent-Wevelgem, but every race here is different. E3 is short and explosive, and then Gent-Wevelgem has more flat sections. And the Tour of Flanders is something different again, because they do the Koppenberg, the Kwaremont and Paterberg a few times. It’s a different kind of effort, and a different kind of fatigue. There are still tactical games, but having the legs is so important.

In any case, I think we’re going to have a very open race for the podium – and even for the win. Van der Poel is a great rider and he’s in great form, but it’s possible to beat him. It’s more than possible. They’re all human. In cycling, there are no robots.

Trentin leads the way for Tudor

At Tudor Pro Cycling Team, we picked up another top-10 finish with Matteo Trentin. Even more than the result itself, but I’m pleased with the way Matteo raced on Sunday. I liked the attack he made to try to get across to the front group before the last time up the Kemmelberg, and he came quite close to making it too.

Matteo is very happy with the support he’s getting from the team, and Marius Mayrhofer pulled a lot for him here. I think the boys are showing up better and better in each race, and we can see that from the respect we’re getting from the other teams. When we move up to the front, we’re getting space in the bunch.

A part of me wonders if we could have brought Arvid de Kleijn to Gent-Wevelgem, given that sprinters like Dylan Groenewegen made it over the Kemmel in the bunch fighting for third place. But that’s always the complicated thing about this race. It can occasionally be a race for sprinters, but very often it isn’t.  

In any case, we can take a lot from Gent-Wevelgem. We’re not fixated on the mistakes the boys make, we’re more interested in the lessons they’re learning. And Tudor’s Tour of Flanders debut next week will be the most valuable lesson of all. Making echelons is important at Gent-Wevelgem, but the Tour of Flanders is more about fighting for position before the climbs. Riding together as a team will be very important.

Get unlimited access to all of our coverage of the Spring Classics- including reporting, breaking news and analysis from the Paris-Roubaix, Tour of Flanders and more. Find out more.