Van der Poel after Paris-Roubaix: "I expected to be the least exhausted of the three for the sprint, but it turned out to be the opposite."

The Italian Sonny Colbrelli achieved a historic victory in the Paris-Roubaix 2021; it was an epic day as, for the first time, three debutants reached the finish line fighting to win. Everything was decided in the sprint at the Roubaix velodrome, where Colbrelli was stronger than the Belgian Florian Vermeersch and the day's big favorite, Mathieu van der Poel.

Mathieu van der Poel finishes third in a historic edition of the Paris-Roubaix

On the grass of the Roubaix velodrome, Sonny Colbrelli cried euphorically with joy after winning a race that will go down in history for its toughness, but at the other end, we saw a completely devastated Mathieu van der Poel who seemed unable to believe the result. The Dutchman was the clear protagonist of the race, leading a long chase and being very generous in his efforts. Few gave him any help. But the truth is that he risked everything on one last card, and in the sprint, we could see that the Dutchman had no chance.

This is how Mathieu van der Poel himself described it:

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"If I don't win a race, I want to die trying. I can be proud. My legs were empty at the end of the race. I am proud to have stepped on the podium in my first participation in Paris-Roubaix. It was very difficult."

"Although it was my first edition, I feel it has been one of those that will remain in the history books; I will never forget it." "In the Arenberg forest, I showed myself for the first time. From that moment on, the race never stopped." "I managed to compensate for my technical skills on the cobblestones. During the last 30-40 km, I was constantly riding on the limit."

"It was a very long finish that took its toll at the end of the race, even though I took a gel every 5-10 km in the last 50 km. I wanted to have enough energy, but in the end, I lacked it to finish. You hope that the others are also dead, and so it was. But I expected to be the least dead among the three for the sprint, and it turned out that I was the one who was completely dead."

Regarding his back injury, he assured that it did not show during the race and that the discomfort he felt was typical of the day's toughness. After this race, Van der Poel will take a well-deserved vacation and is expected to return to competition in December to start the cyclocross season.