![\"Red](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/red-bull-bora-hansgrohe-69cc037621e23.jpg@webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The most striking moment came when he glanced back after accelerating. “When I looked back, only Mathieu was there and I thought: ‘Wow, how is that possible?!'” It was an implicit nod to the Dutch star’s level, who not only matched the move but later made the decisive difference.<\/p>\n
The price of the effort<\/p>\n
Just a few kilometres later, on the Boigneberg, Van Dijke paid for the effort. That was when Van der Poel launched his decisive attack, distancing his compatriot. Van Dijke accepted it with good humour: “That\u2019s how it is,” he laughed.<\/p>\n
They later discussed that sequence, which produced another telling line from the Alpecin-Premier Tech leader. “After the Flanders race, I asked him why he had attacked. He answered: ‘The way you rode up the Taaienberg, I was definitely coming along.'”<\/p>\n
The Dutchman drew clear lessons for the future: “From now on, I need to know that if we\u2019re in a group and no one follows us, Mathieu will attack. In that case, I\u2019d be better off skipping two turns. But there\u2019s also a difference in endurance, level, and training.”<\/p>\n
Strategy and instinct<\/p>\n
Edward Planckaert was also in that chase group, which raised questions about possible temporary alliances. Van Dijke admitted he considered it: “That\u2019s what I had in mind. And I thought (on the Boigneberg): ‘There he goes, no!'”<\/p>\n
From the team car, Sven Vanthourenhout also weighed in, highlighting Van der Poel\u2019s unpredictability: “We know that Mathieu often races on instinct or intuition. That doesn\u2019t help us much in the moment, but it happened.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe<\/p>\n
The twins\u2019 anecdote<\/p>\n
Beyond the racing, the Van Dijke twins continue to spark light moments in the bunch. Tim shares Red Bull – BORA with his twin brother Mick van Dijke, and the pair starred in a comic scene at Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne.<\/p>\n
Presenter Karl Vannieuwkerke tried to interview Tim before the start, but he redirected him to his brother. “It\u2019s tricky, isn\u2019t it, guys?” joked the journalist. “I need to ask Tim a question,” he said, unaware of the mix-up. When he realised, he could only respond: “You\u2019re having me on.! The brothers, laughing, enjoyed the moment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The most striking moment came when he glanced back after accelerating. “When I looked back, only Mathieu…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,206559,13633,18460,82,147986],"class_list":{"0":"post-574651","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-e3-saxo-classic","12":"tag-mathieu-van-der-poel","13":"tag-red-bull-bora-hansgrohe","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-tim-van-dijke"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}