Eight hundred and forty kilometers separate Via Roma from Sanremo, on the Italian Mediterranean coast, in Liguria, from the Roubaix velodrome, in northern France, almost on the Belgian border. In both sacrosanct scenarios for cycling, Mathieu van der Poel appeared alone 22 days apart. The Alpecin cyclist hardly gave credit to his feat. In both March and April, when approaching the respective goals, the Dutchman put his hands to his helmet and lowered his head in disbelief. But it was all real, like the stone paving stone that was given to him as a prize, an object as simple as it was valuable. Because the biggest things in this world are at first sight insignificant.
Paris-Roubaix is ​​a small-scale, condensed representation of life itself. There is luck, good and bad, pain, pleasure, falls, blood, happiness, strength, attacks, strategies, rivalry, honor and cruelty. But the Hell of the North for Van der Poel was above all a family affair. The 28-year-old boy has set out to restore his family’s name to the imaginary cyclist and he won’t stop until he succeeds. He did so in Roubaix.
It was the thirtieth time that a member of the family took the start in the French test, which had completed 120 editions. 14 attempts were made by the grandfather, Raymond Poulidor, and he never got past fifth. On 13 occasions, his father, Adrie van der Poel, started and finished, who got on the podium at the velodrome in 1986, as the best result. Mathieu, the grandson of the first and son of the second, took the thorn out of the third. The leader of Alpecin conquered his third different monument, the one that his ancestors could never tame. Poulidor prevailed in a Sanremo and a Flecha Wallonne. Adrie won a Tour of Flanders, a Liege and an Amstel, among others. But never a Roubaix. Something similar he already did in 2021 with the yellow jersey.
Mathieu already had Flanders twice and in this 2023 he has united the classicissima and the Hell of the North. Of the grandson, physically gifted, who prefers to run without gloves, who has a personalized red bicycle to distinguish him, no one will be able to say that he is second best. He is a winner. And luck accompanies the winners, falls respect them and breakdowns pass by.
Falls like the one that forced Sagan to abandon in his last Roubaix, the one that knocked Van Baarle, the 2022 winner, off horse in the Arenberg forest or the one that dragged Degenkolb with 16 km to go. The German, who had moved to the side to avoid the pavé in the Carrefour de l’Arbre, collided with Van der Poel himself when trying to recover the center of the road and was thrown onto the grass.
The punctures were primed with the Jumbo, which had broken the race with almost 100 km to go. However, at the exit from Arenberg, Laporte had to change a wheel. And the same thing happened to Wout van Aert’s rear wheel at the end of the Carrefour de l’Arbre, the key moment. Van der Poel was on fire after the clash with Degenkolb and did not stop. He passed the Belgian, his bitter rival since they were kids, as if nothing had happened. Van Aert still had to put up with Philipsen (Van der Poel’s teammate) celebrating his boss’s victory in his ear and then beating him in the sprint for second place.
“It is my best season in classics. Sometimes I hate Roubaix, today I love it. I felt super strong. It’s one of my best days on the bike,†said Van der Poel, a monument winner. In De Ronde, last week, he just gave in to Pogacar. In Sanremo and Roubaix no one has been able to beat him.
