Wout Van Aert takes a break => Mathieu Van Der Poel wins. Seems like this is one of the logical conclusions that will hold true for the next 5 years.
In the vein of most cobbled classics, the 2022 Dwars door Vlaanderen was incredibly entertaining. Certainly, contributing to this was Tadej Pogacar’s decision to ride the spring classics this season. The Slovenian never gave up despite missing the winning move with 70km to go. The cobbles are probably not his favorite terrain and certainly not the most favorable for him. Regardless, he rode brilliantly and certainly learned lot from his first experience in the cobbles, among the pros.
He wasn’t in front in the end either due to bad luck or inexperience, but not through lack of form. The Tour champion said that he wasn’t well positioned when the winning move happened because there was a crash and he had to stay behind. It’s doubtful the Slovenian was well positioned to begin with if he was affected by a crash that didn’t happen in front. But if this is your first experience in the cobbles it is likely you’ll make mistakes. Still, Pogacar managed to reach the line within the second group, finishing the day in 10th place. Certainly an honorable result for his first cobbled classic among the pros, and the first overall since the 2018 U23 Tour of Flanders.
The winning move happened 70km from the finish, on the slopes of the Berg Ten Houte, when Ben Turner and Thomas Pidcock (both from Ineos) blew up the race. Soon after a quality group formed in the front: Turner, Pidcock (Ineos), Van der Poel (Alpecin Fenix), Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo Visma), Stefan Küng (Groupama FDJ), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal). The group worked well together and opened up a 20 second gap that nobody would be able to close. Pogacar tried plenty of times, getting as close as 10 seconds away from the group of favorites, but not even he could chase down such a quality and determined group of riders.
Kelland O’Brien (BikeExchange) and Nils Politt (Bora Hansgrohe) were part of the initial breakaway and held on to the aforementioned group of six riders until the end. The final 10km were epic, with several attacks, especially on the part of Campenaerts. The Belgian took advantage of his 58-tooth chainring to attack on the descents, where he could put more power on the ground than his adversaries. Ultimately, he was chased by Benoot, who later sparked the final move, taking Van Der Poel on his wheel. Predictably, the Belgian was no match for the Dutch in the sprint. Mathieu Van Der Poel, thus, won the sprint much more easily than in 2019, when he won this race for the first time.
Jan Tratnik (Bahrain Victorious) & Valentin Maduas (Groupama FDJ)
9th and 11th here, respectively, Tratnik and Maduas continued their excellent seasons with good results yesterday.
The Slovenian had already placed 9th in the Milano Sanremo roughly two weeks ago and follows it up with another 9th place in another WT level race. Surprising for a rider who never really had major results in one day races throughout his career.
Maduas has been a quasi-household name for cycling fanatics since 2018. In 2020 he placed 14th in the Tour of Flanders, his most notable result in the cobbles until 2022. This year he followed an excellent 7th place in the E3 Harelbeke with an 11th here, in the 2022 Dwars door Vlaanderen. I’m not predicting a top-5 for him this Sunday, but if you look at his form in the French classics over the past 3 years and his recent form in the cobbles… We’ll certainly have to keep an eye on him for the future.
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates)
As mentioned, a mix of inexperience and bad luck prevented him from fighting for the win. The indications about his form though were stellar. He pushed several times to bridge the gap to the group of favorites and nearly made it. In the end, a 10th place in the 2022 Dwars door Vlaanderen for someone who already won so much isn’t memorable. But a 10th place in the first cobbled classic he rode since turning pro is certainly a great indication of his potential for this kind of race.
If he wins the Tour of Flanders on Sunday, he’ll be the first GT winner since Gianni Bugno (1994) to do so, and the first Tour winner since Eddy Merckx (1975).
Thomas Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers)
For the life of me I have no idea how Pidcock (theoretically the second fastest man in the group) wasn’t marking Van Der Poel man-to-man and let him get away with less than 2km to go. The British rider blamed Kung, saying he was the man that should have followed Van Der Poel. Which is laughable for someone that has followed the sport for longer than a week. At that point of the race there were only two men with a realistic chance of winning in a sprint: Van Der Poel and Pidcock. I understand you can’t respond to everybody. But with 1.5km to go, you certainly follow Mathieu Van Der Poel. If you can, of course.
Still, a 3rd place in the 2022 Dwars door Vlaanderen is way better than anything he has gotten up to this point and should be a major confidence boost ahead of the Tour of Flanders, on Sunday.
Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo Visma)
The 2022 Dwars door Vlaanderen was proof of how incredible Jumbo Visma classics’ lineup is this year. When given free reign by the team Benoot almost won a WT level one day race. He proved he is good enough to win by himself. Add Laporte and Van Aert and multiple 1st and 2nd places become the norm.
It’s kind of sad that Benoot will likely not get a chance to improve upon his best result in the Tour of Flanders this Sunday (5th in 2015), but, on the other hand, we might be in for a very entertaining display by the best classics’ team of 2022.
Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin Fenix)
If people are running out of words to describe Van Aert’s victories, the same can be said for Van Der Poel. We’ve known for a while that these two will dominate the classics’ landscape in the near and medium terms, so I don’t think anybody is surprised when one of them wins. But the inevitability of it all is still astounding. They are the favorites, everybody is gunning for them, and they still win decisively. It reminds me, off the top of my head, of Peter Sagan’s consecutive world championship victories, or of Tom Boonen’s and Fabian Cancellara’s dominance in the cobbles 10-15 years ago. Truly two legends in the making.