To reverse Johan Kreif's maxim, every advantage has a disadvantage: with the absence of Wout van Aert and Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel is clearly the favourite to win Strade Bianche, but the Dutch riders believe that this absence will make the race more complicated.

"It changes things a bit, they are the two best riders and they have an aggressive racing style. If you have good legs and can keep up with them, the race gets a little easier," Van der Pol said in a video released Friday by the Alpecin de Seuninck team.

"But there are other really good racers out there, so it's going to be a tough race."

Van der Pol's assessment was the same as that of team manager Christophe Roudoft on Thursday evening. Pogachar missed the Strade Bianche for Paris-Nice, while Van Aert opted last month to reduce his training days due to illness and delay the start of the road season until Tirreno-Adriatico.

"It's a shame for the sport that they're not here, and for Mathieu, sometimes it's harder to race without them than with them," Rudhoft told Sporza (open in new tab).

"If everything goes smoothly on a very good day, a heavy burden will soon fall on Mathieu's shoulders. With Wout and Taddei, it will be shared and the race will often be easier."

Despite their absence, Van der Pol will have no shortage of competition in the first road race of the season. Past winners Julien Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quick Step) and Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma) are both coming off impressive victories last weekend in the Von Ardèche Classic and the Coure Brussel-Coulomb, respectively.

Van der Pol has only competed in Strade Bianche twice, finishing 15th in the 2020 event, which was postponed due to the pandemic, and then in the 2021 event, where he dropped Alaphilippe on the Via Santa Caterina in one of the most characteristic performance.

"It was a very special victory. I hope to have the legs to race aggressively again on Saturday," van der Pol said. [Strade Bianche is a race that is hard to predict and a lot can happen, including mechanically. We want to go into the race with a good feeling and be aggressive again. But I won't panic if that happens."

Twelve months ago, Van der Pol missed Strade Bianche due to a long-standing back injury. But when he belatedly started his road season two weeks later at Milan-San Remo, he immediately got results and finished third at Via Roma.

Despite the lingering effects of that back injury over the winter, Van der Pol finished the cyclocross season with his fifth elite world title and enjoyed a smooth approach to the road campaign after a two-week stay at the Sycnrosfera hotel in Denia.

"It was a perfect build-up," he said. 'Obviously, we would have liked a longer preparation period, but the way the season is divided makes it a little difficult to have a really long buildup. We've done everything we wanted to do, and I feel like we're ready for what's to come. But I think I need a few more races to really be at my top level."

In Van der Pol's absence, Alpecin Deceuninck has struggled in his first season at the World Tour level, and the Belgian team has failed to win or even make the podium in 2023. Van der Pol insisted that it would take "a couple of races" to get up to speed, but is expected to start the team during its stay in Italy, where it will compete in Tirreno-Adriatico and Milano-San Remo.

"The season has just begun and the biggest races for us are yet to come," van der Pol said. The opening weekend wasn't what we expected, but that's easy when you're always winning. It's up to us to turn things around."