The best way to know that defending world champion Mathieu van der Poel is making final adjustments for this Sunday's road race is to ask Christophe Rudoft, team manager of Alpecin-Desseuninck.

Rudoft was riding in the team car for the Tour de Luxembourg, Van der Poel's last race before the world championships. In this race, the Dutch star won the first stage and held the lead for several days, but eventually fell to second place overall behind Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious).

In an interview with Wieler Fritz, Rudoft insisted that the 29-year-old world champion and dominator of this spring's Cobblestone Classic is ready to defend the rainbow jersey on Sunday's ultra difficult course.

“This is Mathieu van de Poel at his best. Everyone knows what he's capable of.” Everyone knows what he's capable of.”

Luxembourg was a tough race for Alpecin Deceuninck. Van der Poel's support rider was sick and retired on stage 1, and Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal-Quick Step) took the win and leader's jersey on stage 3, riding alone on the final climb.

Van der Pol made a comeback in the time trial the next day to regain the overall lead. However, Tiberi attacked on the hilly course of the final stage and once again succeeded in dropping the isolated Dutchman to second place on GC.

“Mathieu's race was perfectly fine. Mathieu's race was perfectly fine. Of course, it was no fun. If his teammates Søren (Kraga Andersen) and Jimmy (Jansens) had been there, they probably would have been strong enough to solidify Mathieu's lead on the final stage."

“Instead, young (teammate) Jente Michels had to do something.

Despite the last-minute loss, Van der Pol performed well on an individual level, Rudhoft said, and his strong acceleration in the hills to bring the sprint to a win in the first stage was encouraging going into Sunday.

“Of course I was happy. It's been a long time since he won. But he needed that win.

Rudhoft assured Van der Poel that he could handle the ultra-hilly Zurich circuit, but added, “The big question is how well he can handle the opponents in this area at this point in the season.”

Van der Pol lost weight for the World Championships, but Rudoft did not say much about the amount.

“I'm a little sharper than I usually am in the spring, that's true. It's part of my attempt to be in top shape for this special one-day race, the World Championships."

‘I'm not sure if I'm going to be in the best shape for the World Championships,’ he said.

“But like I said, like the course, the opponents are the biggest factor. For Mathieu everything has to work, but that also applies to his rivals. All I can say is that Mathieu will be fine.”

Rudhoft clearly feels confident in Mathieu, who is burned into the minds of many cycling fans about the Dutch leader's ferocious attack with 22 kilometers to go through the streets of Glasgow at last year's world championships.

“If the others are not in good shape, it might be enough,” Rudoft told Wielerfritz about Van der Pol's chances of winning the rainbow jersey again. 'We did everything we could to send Mathieu out on Sunday. We can't do any more. A super day is also a possibility. I am curious to see how far he can go on Sunday.

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