Mathieu Van Der Poel has made history again, he won the Tour of Flanders for the second time, and that too on his eighth day of racing after a prolonged break he took because of a back injury. The finale was amazing, as the Dutchman went toe to toe or shall we say wheel to wheel with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) in a high-speed race.
It is an amazing achievement as Van Der Poel managed this on his eighth day of racing as he returned from a prolonged break. One of the main reasons he came back was to defend his title of Flanders Champion which he successfully did.
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Van Der Poel and Tadej Pogačar had an amazing lead-out in the front, basically, it should have been a two-man sprint in the end. Although with that being said, Pogacar made the mistake of playing cat and mouse for too long and ultimately paid the price for it. Eventually, when the gap was too much, this allowed Dylan van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers) and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) to close in on Pogacar and overtake him.
Due to the sheer force of these amazing riders, Pogacar was forced to finish the race in the fourth position. Van Der Poel started his 2022 season with the Milan-San Remo and immediately won his second Tour of Flanders, this is a terrific achievement.
After the race, Van Der Poel said:
I worked so hard for this one. At first, it wasn’t even sure if I would get to the Classics, and to win is incredible.
They were coming really fast from behind, so I decided to sprint from far out. It was amazing that [Pogačar] was busy with me and not with the others coming back. It was a bit of a shock to see it play out like that.
He went up Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg really fast. I was almost at the point of dropping. In the end, it was a scenario I’ve had three times before, so I knew it already. I was only taking Tadej into account.
I just tried to recover a little bit every time I was on the wheel, but I was just hurting a lot. I’ve worked extremely hard for it and I just went 100 percent. I’m really happy it has worked out.
With the pandemic, there were a lot of restrictions placed on these events. With this year’s Tour of Flanders, the level of excitement and enthusiasm was at an all-time high.
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With Van Der Poel winning his second Tour of Flanders, we could see his excitement over the roof but also saw Tadej Pogacar in frustration. These two champions will get plenty of shots for a chance at glory. Stay tuned for more updates!
Also Read: Belgium Goes Crazy For Kopecky As She Rises To Fame After Strade Bianche
Featured Image Via YouTube/Cycling Pro Net
