Anticipate was the most common word that echoed through the Tour of Flanders mixed zone at the start in Antwerp as riders were pressed to answer how they would beat heavy favourite Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) at the second Monument of the season.
With the Dutchman’s key rival Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) out of the race following a huge crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen and the best team of the Flemish Classics so far - Lidl-Trek - also hampered by the same incident, the two-time winner enters the 108th edition as the man to beat.
The defending champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) similarly isn’t here, only upping Van der Poel’s chances, but one of his key domestiques from 2023 Matteo Trentin (Tudor) believed getting away from Van der Poel before he attacks was the only way of beating him.
“We need to get in front of him and try to kind of surprise and be advantageous,” Trentin told Cyclingnews at the start.
“My role is not changing because there are a few guys who are in another league like Van der Poel, but his time it’s only him. For sure we need to anticipate and that’s more or less what I did last year in support of Tadej [Pogačar].”
Trentin was tenth at Flanders last year after getting ahead of the group of favourites. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) did the same and found his way onto the podium, but the Dane said his ideal finish would be “hopefully, me and him [Van der Poel] in a sprint.
Even after losing two very strong teammates in E3 runner-up Jasper Stuyven and Alex Kirsch, Pedersen said to CyclingProNet that Trek were not going to change up their tactics in Flanders, suggesting they would ride on the front and try to use their numbers against the Dutchman as a pose to anticipating.
Trying to get ahead of the racing is far from a new tactic at De Ronde, but this year it seems the only route to victory in the face of a top-from Van der Poel, with all eyes on his rainbow jersey.
“It depends when Mathieu is going to go, but anticipate, if we can,” was what Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) told Cyclingnews before detailing the rest of his team’s plan.
“Hopefully, we’ve got someone in the early move, then I can anticipate and get in a move across to them. Then Matej [Mohorič] is behind, he comes across and we’ve got three guys in front.
“Then we can see who has got the legs in the end. That’s the plan but who knows with these races. We’ll see.”
Mohoric and Wright both spoke of the aforementioned crash that has affected both the start list and potential tactics for today, with a more chaotic race expected by the Slovenian after Van Aert, Jasper Stuyven and Alex Kirsch were taken out of De Ronde.
“I don't necessarily like that it's just Mathieu the big favourite,” Mohoric told CyclingProNet.
“I think this will open up the race early with many riders who want to anticipate him. This is a little bit more tricky… More chaotic race, more attacks, more people trying to get away.”
Mohorič and Wright would be prime candidates to try the anticipation move having not been overly strong at the “mini Tour of Flanders” at E3 Saxo Classic, with Mohorič having been off the front solo before in the 2019 race.
Van der Poel has an incredible racing at Flanders with his worst result being fourth place on Debut in 2019. Each time since then, he has either been first or second and believes his team is strong enough to handle all the anticipation.
“I think there will be a lot of attacks from quite far away but I think we have the team to handle it as well,” Van der Poel told CyclingProNet in Antwerp. “Also there’s still other teams that believe they can win so we’ll see how it turns out.
If Van der Poel was to live up to his favourite status and win a third Tour of Flanders, he would equal the record for the most Flanders title alongside the likes of Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara.
