Mathieu van der Poel: 'Alpecin-Deceuninck are at our strongest in Paris-Roubaix'

Throughout the spring, from Milan-San Remo to last weekend’s Tour of Flanders, Mathieu van der Poel has been a marked man, and as result, his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammates have shouldered the burden of responsibility within the peloton. Not long ago, the Belgian outfit were a UCI ProTeam punching above their weight, but these days, the men in blue denim are a force to be reckoned with in the Classics.

Through Jasper Philipsen and Van der Poel, the team have won the first two Monuments of the season at Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders, respectively, the most recent of which was probably their best team performance since the pair crossed over the line in first and second at last year’s Paris-Roubaix.

It might come as a rude awakening, then, to the other teams in the bunch, that Van der Poel believes the best is yet to come from his teammates. Speaking to GCN and the media pool in a pre-race press conference in Roeselare, Belgium, the defending champion and Philipsen were relaxed, in high spirits, and confident.

“I think Trek showed already that they have quite a good tactic, but also we have more riders that are capable of going longer in Roubaix than in other races,” said Van der Poel, “so I think as a team we are maybe stronger here than we are in the other races.”

If Alpecin-Deceuninck can better their Tour of Flanders performance, they will be a hard team to stop. There, the now-UCI WorldTeam allowed a manageable breakaway to go up the road, before pacing the peloton through the indomitable Silvan Dillier and later chasing a couple of dangerous attacks on behalf of Van der Poel. With one particular alerting move brought to within touching distance, the Dutchman bridged the gap and, after Gianni Vermeersch marked out danger man Mads Pedersen, would later lay siege to the race with a 44.8km solo attack.

Read more:

• Tour of Flanders: Mathieu van der Poel claims record third title with 45km solo
• Resilience, patience and power take Mathieu van der Poel to Tour of Flanders greatness

Reflecting on the race five days on and after a mini-training block in Spain, Van der Poel could not be prouder of his teammates’ efforts.

“Until now I can only be really happy about the performance of the team, also in De Ronde they did an amazing job actually and we never panicked, so this is also what we try to do on Sunday," he said.

Not just loyal to one another on the bike, there is a real sense of a collective amongst the Alpecin-Deceuninck ranks. As a team that has been built around the reigning world champion, all their sails are pointing in the right direction and with that, a camaraderie is obvious to see.

“You don’t see the tan lines, so I think he was more in the pool [than on the bike],” Philipsen said of his teammate’s recent training spell in Spain.

No gifts necessary from Philipsen, but Alpecin-Deceuninck will look to use the numbers game

Of course, a repeat of last year’s Paris-Roubaix would be a dream for the team, to say the least, but it is telling that Van der Poel is happy to take the race to Lidl-Trek this time around.

For much of the spring, the order of business has seen Lidl-Trek attack Van der Poel with multiple leaders, with an aim to wear down the Dutchman before the finale. It was a tactic that paid dividends for Mads Pedersen in Gent-Wevelgem.

Read more: The Van der Poel rules: How to beat cycling's best Classics rider

“Gianni Vermeersch last year was super strong actually but he was maybe a bit too enthusiastic after he was in the first group,” said Van der Poel.

“Roubaix is one of the strangest races, it can really happen at any moment also between the cobbles. Also for Gianni it could be ideal to be in a group and not have to pull with us behind, so we have different cards to play, yes.”

© Getty Images

With Van der Poel the lone winner, Jasper Philipsen sprinted to second behind his teammate in last year's Paris-Roubaix

The natural question arises as to what might happen should Van der Poel and Philipsen arrive to the Roubaix velodrome together on Sunday: would the pair sprint against one another? Philipsen insists that team orders would be clear, whilst Van der Poel chooses a playful response.

“I think if we enter the velodrome [together], Jasper is going to go left and I’m going to go right and the first person to cross the line wins - that’s the plan.”

That notwithstanding, there is a suggestion that Philipsen may want to repay Van der Poel’s favour from Milan-San Remo, in which the world champion worked for the sprinter after the Poggio - “Of course, I want to give something back at a certain point, why not Sunday?” said the Belgian - but Van der Poel will have none of that talk.

“What he did last year in Roubaix was already enough and I don’t give to get something back. I do it because in that situation it was the best option and I know he would have done the same, so it’s not like I do something like this to get something back,” he added.

There is little doubt that Alpecin-Deceuninck are the favourites on Sunday. Van der Poel is the outstanding candidate, Philipsen showed himself more than capable last year, both Vermeersch and Søren Kragh Andersen could be outsiders, and Dillier himself finished runner-up some six years ago.

Though with two Monuments to their name already this season, Van der Poel knows the pressure to win is off. Without that burden, Alpecin-Deceuninck can race with freedom on Sunday.

“Winning Flanders was my main goal this year, everything that comes now is a bonus.”

For the latest news, interviews and analysis from the world of professional cycling, be sure to check out the Racing tab on the GCN website and visit our essential guide to The Spring Classics to stay up to date with all of the action from cycling's most exciting season.