To pull or not to pull, that is the question that\u2019s stalked Mathieu van der Poel in his monument brawls with Tadej Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the media Thursday ahead of the third round of their titan rivalry at Paris-Roubaix, Van der Poel batted back at the armchair experts who have been questioning his tactics.<\/p>\n
MVDP is a racer. Maybe the best cobblestone racer of the era, in fact.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s not going to suck anybody\u2019s wheel \u2013 not even Poga\u010dar\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did what I had to do. I was in a position to win,\u201d Van der Poel said when asked why he worked with Poga\u010dar in the bruising finale of the Tour of Flanders.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see how not cooperating with him would have changed the outcome or increased my chances. I just did my best,\u201d he told Het Nieuwsblad<\/em> and the cobble-hungry press corps.<\/p>\n Van der Poel has become one of the greatest cobblestone racers of the era with pure brawn and a racing brain.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s a savvy that\u2019s not immune to ego, pride, and honor codes.<\/p>\n \u201cNot riding with him would have been a bit \u2018anti-racing,’\u201d Van der Poel said Thursday. \u201cTadej and I are going to cross paths for years to come. It\u2019s better that we get along well.\u201d<\/p>\n Images of Van der Poel and Poga\u010dar in each other\u2019s wheels have defined the monument season so far. The two rotated through in the corn-popping finales of both Milan-San Remo and Tour of Flanders.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a tactic some believe only hastened Van der Poel\u2019s demise.<\/p>\n Why play nice when he could despatch the Slovenian in a sprint?<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not good to be afraid and not pull,\u201d Van der Poel said Sunday on the morning of De Ronde<\/em>. \u201cOf course, he [Poga\u010dar] is the strongest, but I\u2019m always there to make the race,\u201d<\/p>\n Does the Cobblestone King need to start getting evil in the Hell of the North this weekend?<\/p>\n If he ends up 1-on-1 with Poga\u010dar on the decisive stones of Carrefour de l\u2019Abre, his best chance might be to park the pride.<\/p>\n Hopping on the Pogi express for a free ride to the velodrome offers the hench Dutchman a less spectacular, but more certain, chance at success.<\/p>\n \u201cA solo gives you the greatest certainty, but it won\u2019t go that way every year,\u201d Van der Poel said Thursday. \u201cIf you do manage to get to a sprint, then you\u2019ve ridden a good race.<\/p>\n \u201cBut if I can choose, I\u2019d rather finish solo.\u201d<\/p>\n He might not have the luxury of choice this Sunday in Hell.<\/p>\n Poga\u010dar\u2019s record-equalling win in Flanders last weekend against the most heavyweight one-day field in memory felt like a tipping point.<\/p>\n The scales between him and Van der Poel leveled when not even 650 watts were enough for the big Dutchman to hold the wheel.<\/p>\n After Poga\u010dar stampeded to huge wins at Strade Bianche, Milan San-Remo, and De Ronde<\/em>, it\u2019s not so easy to call the three-time winner the favorite for Paris-Roubaix. Not even the weather forecast is siding with him.<\/p>\n Van der Poel isn\u2019t bothered.<\/p>\n Roubaix is\u00a0his\u00a0<\/em>backyard.<\/p>\n \u201cThis race suits me and the team very well,\u201d he told the media. \u201cEspecially against Tadej, this one suits me better than the Tour of Flanders. Hopefully, I can turn the tables.\u201d<\/p>\n Van der Poel acknowledged on Thursday that Poga\u010dar could end his record-equaling streak of three Roubaix wins in a row.<\/p>\n But he\u2019s not going to roll over and let it happen.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, it will be difficult to drop him, but the other way around too,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are no climbs to make a difference, so that makes it harder to open a gap.\u201d<\/p>\n Alpecin-Premier Tech is taking a team of pure muscle into the notorious cobbles on Sunday. Former runner-up Jasper Philipsen and hot talent Tibor del Grosso could provide MVDP with crucial tactical cards.<\/p>\n But in Paris-Roubaix, it\u2019s 55 kilometers of cobbles that decide the strategy, not a sport director meeting.<\/p>\n \u201cI will race by feel and assess the situation, like always,\u201d Van der Poel said Thursday. \u201cIn Roubaix, anything can happen. The key is to stay alert at the front and get through the cobblestones as safely as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Tactics might be the last thing on MVDP\u2019s mind in the hottest corners of Hell of the North this weekend.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/van-der-poel-tactics-pogacar-roubaix\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Copy-of-resignation-vs-records-2.jpg”] Jim Cotton Updated April 10, 2026 04:19AM To pull or not to pull, that is the question that\u2019s stalked Mathieu van der Poel in his monument brawls with Tadej Poga\u010dar. Speaking to the media Thursday ahead of the third round of their titan rivalry at Paris-Roubaix, Van der Poel batted back at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1875605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1875605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1875605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1875605\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1875605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1875605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1875605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Van der Poel hasn\u2019t played dirty \u2013 yet<\/h2>\n
![\"Once](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2269914925-1200x800.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
No climbs, crippling cobbles: \u2018Roubaix suits me better than Flanders\u2019<\/h2>\n
![\"Van](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2269942373.jpg?width=2048&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
\u2018I will race by feel\u2019<\/h2>\n