MAGIC MATHIEU

Spring seasons don’t come much better than van der Poel’s in 2021, writes Chris Marshall-Bell

- Chris Marshall-Bell

A microcosm of Mathieu van der Poel’s dream first half of the season can be found on a horrifically wet stage five of Tirreno-Adriatico when he won from a solo 60km move. “I attacked from afar because I was cold,” the Dutchman said.

The best way to get warm is to do some exercise, and clearly, the peloton’s pace was too sedate for a man who is burning with so much raw power that whenever he decides he’d quite like to do something, he just... well, does it. By doing so he rewrites convention and leaves everyone struggling to comprehend how a man on a bike can be so fast, so ruthless, so damn strong.

He first had us in awe in January: six cyclocross races, five victories, only allowing Wout van Aert to get the better of him on one occasion, van der Poel responded a week later by winning his third successive cyclo-cross world title.

He switched to the road effortlessly, winning the opening stage of the UAE Tour, before readjusting to Strade Bianche.