‘Frightening prospect’ - Mathieu van der Poel will move to ‘another level’ after electric Giro d’Italia

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) will be an even more frightening force in cycling after completing his first Grand Tour at the Giro d’Italia, according to The Breakaway gang. The Dutchman lit up the Giro with a string of gutsy – and often wildly ambitious – attacks. Although he won just a single stage, during the Hungarian Grande Partenza, he displayed a fearlessness on all terrain that hinted at his bold future plans.

Ad/> Perhaps his most iconic move came on Stage 17, when he ripped clear from the breakaway along with Gijs Leemreize (Jumbo-Visma) on a steep mountain descent – almost coming a cropper after overcooking a corner. He then attacked again on the final Cat. 1 climb as the most unexpected win beckoned, only to blow up and fade away.

Giro d'ItaliaDe Bondt denies sprinters to seal stunning Stage 18 win from break26/05/2022 AT 15:28 In the aftermath of Jai Hindley’s memorable overall title, Eurosport expert Adam Blythe repeated his claim that Van der Poel was testing himself in Italy ahead of a serious crack at the Tour de France. “I said this the other day, I think this is for something else that he’s doing this for now,” said Blythe. “He’s a winner, he wants to win bike races.

He tried to win again [on Sunday], but I think he’s doing this in preparation for the Tour, see how he comes out of this. Giro demons purged, can Hindley now threaten superstars Pogacar and Roglic? 'I wasn’t going to let that happen again' — Hindley fuelled by final-day anguish “I think the main thing he will take from this is just to be patient a little bit on climbs. He’s got the legs to do it but every long climb he went into, he would ride super hard at the bottom in any break he was in, get halfway up and be caught or blow.