Mathieu van der Pol did not exaggerate the importance of Ghent-Wevelgem when he entered the Mixed Zone on Grote Markt in Ypres on Sunday morning. He said, "The success or failure of the spring campaign is purely measured by the number of victories at the monument.

Still, Van der Pol rarely entered a race just to run around, and after winning the E3 Saxo Classic on Friday, he was the overwhelming favorite to win the Classic here as well. Van der Pol, who won the E3 Saxo Classic on Friday, was the favorite to win the Classic here as well."

Van der Pol, however, was inevitably in contention until the last meter of the breathless Ghent-Wevelgem, when he had to cede the two-man sprint in Vanackerestraat to Mads Pedersen (Lidl Trek). only after aggression on the first climbs on Kemelberg and Plugstreet changed the entire course of the race.

Ghent-Wevelgem's flat finale traditionally gives sprinters a chance to win, but the key question before the race was whether van der Pol would race in place of his Alpecin-Desseuninck teammate, Jasper Philipsen. In his first appearance in 2024, van der Pol pieced together Milan-San Remo after Poggio and led Philipsen to victory.

"It is possible that Jasper is still there after the last Kemmel, in which case we will have to communicate again, as we did in San Remo. But I think a lot can happen before that."

There was foresight. The grim pre-race forecast of hail and wind did not materialize, but on the exposed roads near De Molen, even a gentle breeze could have a tornado-like impact. When the peloton split with 150 km to go, it was inevitably Van der Pol who was leading the pack.

The Dutchman continued in the same vein on the first climb of the Kemmelberg. Then he decided to kick it again on the dirt road of Plugstreet. Pedersen and Lawrence Pitty (Groupama-FDJ) were the only ones left with him on the second climb of Kemmel.

On the final climb, however, Pedersen offered terms of engagement. Van der Pol later admitted that he was content to hold Pedersen's wheel as the gradient tightened near the summit.

"It was a bit painful," Van der Pol told reporters after the podium. "My legs were already pretty tired after the second Kemmel climb. I was just concentrating on being there, and on the last Kemmel climb I was struggling to hold onto Mads' handlebars. He was really strong and I knew a sprint would be difficult."

Already then, Van der Pol was looking for his own victory. With teammate Philipsen and the trailing peloton still a minute behind, Van der Pol and Pedersen found common cause at the front of the race. Van der Pol locked on to Pedersen's wheel and set Pedersen up to blink first.

The chances were slim to none. Pedersen kept a high pace to break away from the pack and then dominated Van der Pol in the two-man sprint that followed. Van der Pol tried to catch up to Pedersen's initial burst, but sat in the saddle as if admitting defeat. After the podium ceremony, he softly dismissed the idea that he should have waited for Philipsen, who eventually lost to Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) for third place.

"At some point you have to decide. We don't know how tired Mads is. Under these circumstances, I think you have to run because you are the World Champion," Van der Pol said. 'Jasper didn't win the sprint either. It's easy to say afterwards, but in this situation you had to try."

Van der Pol held his own in Harelbeke on Friday, but 48 hours later, he admitted that the cost of his efforts still remained.

"Friday's race was pretty exhausting for me," he said. 'But Mads also ran in E3, so that's no excuse. Of course I wanted to win, but it's not hard to accept when you have stronger competitors than you."

Even if Van der Pol's defeat here gives some relief to his rivals, he remains the favorite to win next Sunday's Tour de Flanders and then Paris-Roubaix the following week. His old sparring partner Wout Van Aert (Wisma-Ries A-Bike), who was absent this time, will compete in the Dwars door Hlaanderen in midweek, but Van der Pol will not ride again until the Ronde.

"I need a few days to recover," he said. But in general I think we did really well today. I don't expect to win every race. It seems easy, but it's always difficult."

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