'I was riding 650 watts and I couldn't hold his wheel' - Van der Poel sunk by Pogacar in Flanders

The result doesn’t lie, and Van der Poel placed second behind Tadej Pogačar after the world champion dropped him on the final time up the Oude Kwaremont. The Dutchman was the best of the rest in the Flemish Ardennes, but he simply had no answer to Pogačar’s overwhelming force in the finale. 

The winning move took shape with 55km to go on the penultimate time up the Kwarement, when Pogačar attacked for the first time. Van der Poel was quite a way back when the Slovenian accelerated and he expended a lot of energy in battling his way up to his wheel.

The first selection had taken place some almost 50km earlier, when Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad split the race on the Molenberg. That meant the finale would be largely a question of strength rather than positioning, even if Van der Poel would be surprisingly on the back foot come the Kwaremont.

“Everybody knows it’s always a key point there [on the Molenberg], but I don’t think anybody thought it would be the first key moment,” Van der Poel told Eurosport. “Of course, it takes away the positioning for second time Kwaremont if you’re in a smaller group, so for me it was a good situation.

“I was in a good position before the second time up the Kwaremont, but unfortunately, I was blocked by some riders, and I had to come all the way from the back. It cost me a big effort to come back to the wheel of Tadej.”

Despite that rare misstep, Van der Poel joined Pogačar and debutant Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) over the top of the Oude Kwaremont with 55km to go. They would drop Evenepoel on the following Paterberg, and Van der Poel would swap turns with Pogačar afterwards to make sure he didn’t get back on.

“It’s not that I pulled like a mad man: I just did my pulls and sometimes it’s actually better to also pull a little bit for your legs,” Van der Poel said. “I was happy with the situation. I always go for myself as hard as I can. I did the same again today. In the end it’s very simple – he was stronger.” 

Van der Poel broke even with Pogačar over the Koppenberg, Taaienberg and Kruisberg, but the final ascent of the Kwaremont would prove a bridge too far. Although he limited the damage on the toughest section of cobbles, Pogačar pulled out his advantage over the top and on the following Paterberg to win by 34 seconds.

Van der Poel downplayed the idea that his poor positioning ahead of Pogačar’s first attack had left him short of reserves in the finale.

“It’s difficult to say,” Van der Poel said. “I don’t think I was missing a lot to be with him on the last time up the Kwaremont, but he was just very strong today.”

Van der Poel illustrated the point starkly when he spoke to Sporza.

“Cycling is very simple: I was riding 650 watts and just couldn’t hold his wheel,” Van der Poel said. “I had one problem. There is a phenomenon riding around here. I did everything I had to do, but there was someone stronger. There was nothing I could do about it.”

Van der Poel has now finished on the podium of the Tour of Flanders for seven successive editions, winning the race in 2020, 2022 and 2024, placing second to Kasper Asgreen in 2021, second to Pogačar in 2023 and 2026, and third to Pogačar a year ago.

The Alpecin-Premier Tech man will go again at Paris-Roubaix next week, where he is seeking a fourth consecutive victory, but he knows Pogačar will be an exacting foe after placing second on his debut a year ago.

“This chance is gone and luck will play a part next week as well,” Van der Poel said. “But let’s recover first.”