As a former teammate, Nathan Van Hooydonck would have liked to see Wout van Aert compete against Mathieu van der Poel in the Tour. Due to Van Aert’s forfeit, Van der Poel’s victory is more of a confirmation of expectations.
That’s certainly how Van Hooydonck describes it Wuyts & Vlaeminck. “I think above all that we have all felt that victory coming since Wednesday. What Mathieu did was a phenomenal achievement. Riding away on the Koppenberg and not looking back. Driving around with a lot of self-confidence, I thought.”
All things that could be expected somewhere. “It was all a confirmation. We all expected this to happen. In his previous victories, a Pogacar or a Wout van Aert could make it difficult for him. Now the question was: who is going to stop him? Who is going to beat him?”
SEARCH FOR CHALLENGER VAN DER POEL
Because a Stuyven was also exhausted and Pedersen was possibly battered, the name of Van der Poel’s closest challenger was not an obvious choice. “Few could pinpoint a name.” However, the tenor was: Van der Poel would be isolated, his team would have to carry the entire race.
And here and there there were some doubts about whether they could handle that at Alpecin-Deceuninck. Then they put those doubters in their place. “I thought the team was strong, stronger than I thought.” Van Hooydonck does add a comment.
VAN DER POEL SAVES HIS TEAM
“Mathieu himself closes a gap on the Valkenberg: in a peloton with Pogacar and Wout van Aert you will pay for it in cash. In principle, that should not happen. There he saves his team,” concludes the former cyclist.
Tags: Van Hooydonck fills Van der Poels victory peloton Pogacar Wout van Aert pay cash
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