The European Championship in Belgium is just a month away. Mathieu van der Poel will lead the team together with Olav Kooij. The Dutch national coach spoke about the team’s ambitions there, but also about the reigning world champions’ chances later this season in Zurich.
Mathieu van der Poel is a favourite for the cobbled sections of the race, while Olav Kooij takes a strong lead and has ambitions to win there. “Olav (Kooij) did very well last year at the European Championships on and around the VAM mountain. Before the last national championships he had been struggling with a knee injury for a long time,” team coach Koos Moerenhout told Wielerflits. “We had to wait and see how he copes with the Tour of Poland. This test was very good considering his two stage wins. He is therefore preferable to Dutch champion Dylan Groenewegen.”
The team chose Kooij over Dylan Groenewegen because Visma is good on classic terrain and was in top form recently at the Tour of Poland. The team has van der Poel as an attack card, but the race could end in a sprint. With such a strong team, are they the favourites to win? “Well, I wouldn’t call us that at the moment. It will probably be the Belgian team,” he argues, a team that should have Jasper Philipsen and Tim Merlier… While Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel are certainly possibilities too.
And what are van der Poel’s chances at the more difficult World Championships in Zurich? “Yes, it’s possible. It’s true that it’s a difficult course. But in my opinion, Van der Poel certainly has a chance. If Tadej Pogacar or Remco Evenepoel have a good day, it will be difficult,” he admits. The race will take place on a circuit where the main climb will be almost 3 kilometers long, more than the explosive type of effort that van der Poel is usually so successful at.
“But hey, it’s the World Championship. It can and should be difficult. The most important thing is that Mathieu starts there at his best level. And then everything is open. Glasgow was better for Mathieu than Pogačar. In Zurich it will be the other way round. But Mathieu van der Poel definitely has a chance there too and I’m building my team around him,” he concluded.
