Fabian Cancellara welcomes Mathieu van der Poel to the elite club

Interview With his third victory in the Tour of Flanders, Mathieu van der Poel placed himself in the illustrious list of record holders. Achiel Buysse, Fiorenzo Magni, Eric Leman, Johan Museeuw, Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara preceded him. “I can also see Mathieu De Ronde winning a fourth and/or fifth time,” Cancellara said after the finish in Oudenaarde.

As manager of Tudor Pro Cycling, Fabian Cancellara followed the Tour of Flanders closely. Until Easter Sunday 2024, Helveet was the last rider to join the illustrious company of riders who won ‘Flanders Most Beautiful’ three times. In 2010, 2013 and 2014 Cancellara was the best.

“Mathieu is number seven at our club,” says Cancellara with a broad smile. “And seven is my lucky number. I think he will become the record holder and will be successful again in the coming years. He is still quite young. Mathieu is a super driver. The class radiates from it. The way he managed to win De Ronde this year was also great. He was without a doubt the strongest rider in the race. But how his team worked for him was also great.”

Cancellara has full praise for the way in which 29-year-old Van der Poel defeated everyone on the Koppenberg and then soloed to victory for 45 kilometers in the pouring rain. “A more than deserved victory. Although I found it interesting how some rivals competed. Mads Pedersen opened the race about a hundred kilometers before the finish. I wondered: if someone goes on the attack so early, what does he want to achieve with it?”

“If you saw Mathieu’s condition and strength in recent weeks, it was a matter of time before he really started putting power on his pedals. And that happened. Some teams have made the game, I don’t want to say easier, for him, but they have played into his hands. After Mathieu’s attack, the race had gone quickly and only the battle for second place was actually interesting. Although I must say that this was a very tough edition of the Tour of Flanders.”

While everyone is currently full of praise for this generation that dares to race far to the finish, Cancellara was a champion who regularly attacked for the ultimate finale. “Yes that’s right. This is nothing new to me. When I went on the attack, people often said that it was incomprehensible that I opened the match so early. However, there are tactics, good legs and a certain motivation that bring you to such a way of fighting.”

Cancellara points out that you should also look at your specialty as a cyclist. Some riders have a strong ‘punch’ in their legs, while others rely on their endurance. “If you have that stamina and confidence, you can attack early. This allows you to crack your rivals mentally. And then you have to see it as a time trial. Then of course I had the advantage of being a time trialist. So for me, such a long attack was more or less normal.”

“Now when I see that the top riders sometimes go a hundred kilometers from the finish, like Tadej Pogacar in the Strade Bianche. That is something different than in my time. But when I look back on it, this course has great similarities with how I tackled some races.”

His team Tudor Pro Cycling made its debut last Sunday in the Tour of Flanders. The fairly new Swiss team is present in the peloton for the second consecutive year. With Matteo Trentin it achieved a 19^e place in Oudenaarde.

“I think we can be satisfied with this debut in Flanders. Our ambition was a top ten ranking. On the other hand, the team performed its tasks well. They raced in a way that was our plan. That also counts, because as a team we are still in a growth process. We have to take one step at a time and this was another necessary step. I am pleased with how we are currently developing.”

Cancellara’s team surprisingly did not receive a wild card for Paris-Roubaix. That is why the team is now focusing on the Scheldeprijs with Arvid de Kleijn and then the sights are set on the Brabantse Pijl and Amstel Gold Race.