{"id":568390,"date":"2026-03-27T19:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T19:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/568390\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T19:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T19:11:09","slug":"everyone-knows-how-exceptional-tadej-pogacar-is-riding-mathieu-van-der-poel-holds-hands-up-after-being-dropped-on-the-poggio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/568390\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cEveryone knows how exceptional Tadej Pogacar is riding\u201d \u2013 Mathieu van der Poel holds hands up after being dropped on the Poggio"},"content":{"rendered":"

Van der Poel had already made the decisive move on the Cipressa to form the leading group, but when the race lifted again on the final climb, he was unable to respond.<\/p>\n

Attention has instead centred on the crash that came before that moment, and the hand injury that followed. It remains visible in his build-up to the E3 Saxo Classic<\/a>, but not in the way it is being interpreted externally. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit of an annoying injury, although that might be overstating it. It\u2019s an awkward wound on my hand and nail. It\u2019s not very pleasant to ride with, but it\u2019s manageable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than presenting it as a limiting factor, Van der Poel consistently reduces it to discomfort, even if it is not something that will disappear quickly. \u201cTo say I\u2019m in pain would be too much. Again, it\u2019s more uncomfortable and quite annoying, because it will take some time,\u201d he explains. \u201cThere\u2019s a gap in that nail, and it takes a while to close again, but I can ride with it. That\u2019s the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The distinction is important. The injury exists and lingers into his return to racing, but his own explanation of Sanremo does not rest on it. The decisive separation came on the Poggio, and in his own words, it unfolded as expected.<\/p>\n

That leaves a clear, if slightly uncomfortable, picture heading into Harelbeke. Van der Poel lines up for the E3 Saxo Classic as the standout favourite once again, doing so with a minor physical issue still present, but without any suggestion from the rider himself that it changes the hierarchy he encountered just days earlier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Van der Poel had already made the decisive move on the Cipressa to form the leading group, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,279268,77973,167052,85,6494],"class_list":["post-568390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-e3-saxo-classic","tag-mathieu-van-der-poel","tag-milano-sanremo","tag-sports","tag-tadej-pogacar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}