Mathieu van der Poel’s running tally of Monuments now stands at four after his victory at Paris-Roubaix, while his eternal rival Wout van Aert remains with one to his name as the curtain falls on the cobbled Classics for another year.
Van Aert added another E3 Saxo Classic to his palmarès before yielding Gent-Wevelgem victory to his Jumbo-Visma teammate Christophe Laporte two days later. In the Monuments, however, the Belgian had to settle for third place at Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix and fourth place at the Tour of Flanders.
Van der Poel, by contrast, become only the fourth rider in history to win Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix in the same year, while only a rampant Tadej Pogačar denied him at the Tour of Flanders.
For this Spring at least, the balance of power in the never-ending duel tipped in Van der Poel’s favour, but Jumbo-Visma directeur sportif Merijn Zeeman has dismissed the idea that Van Aert has something of a complex when it comes to racing against the Dutchman in the Classics.
“Mathieu is a fantastic rider, and for him to win two Monuments is unprecedented. We have a lot of respect for that, but it only motivates us more to beat him, like Pogačar,” Zeeman told Het Nieuwsblad.
“Mathieu was better in the Ronde, better in Roubaix. Wout was incredibly good, but he came up against a better opponent. That's sport. That's what makes them such great athletes that everyone enjoys so much. We can only look at that with great appreciation. They’re taking the sport to the next level.”
Jumbo-Visma won five cobbled Classics across the Spring – Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, E3 Saxo Classic, Gent-Wevelgem and Dwars door Vlaanderen – but that dominance did not repeat itself at the two main events, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
“I am incredibly proud of our season. We’re riding our best Spring ever with both the Classics and the GC team. We’ve won three WorldTour stage races and five Classics. That's fantastic,” said Zeeman, though he acknowledged that Flanders and Roubaix are “the heroic races every team wants to win.”
Zeeman insisted that Van Aert’s E3 Saxo Classic win meant his Spring had been a success even if he missed out on his two biggest objectives.
“Last week I already told Wout that it was extra good that he managed to win a nice Classic against Van der Poel and Pogačar, the two best riders of the moment,” Zeeman said. “Wout is much more than a rider who wins races."
"The fact that our Classics team is doing so well is because he is so driven and makes others better by pushing everyone to the limit. Hopefully he will continue to do so with us for many years to come. We owe Wout nothing but a lot of thanks.”
Despite winning Amstel Gold Race in 2021 and placing third at Liège-Bastogne-Liège last year, Van Aert’s Classics campaign ended in the Roubaix velodrome. Zeeman also confirmed that Primoz Roglic would not be drafted into Jumbo-Visma’s team for Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
“We left it open in case Wout was still feeling good and wanted to go on longer, but he wasn’t,” Zeeman said. “He needs to relax mentally and then start a new block of training sessions towards the Tour of Switzerland, the Tour de France and the World Championships with a fresh head.”
