“It wasn’t the plan, but my legs were incredible”: even Van der Poel hadn’t planned his historic ride in Luxembourg

Mathieu van der Poel needed a good signal before the World Championship and he found it in a much more forceful way than expected. After several days of not feeling comfortable in the Tour of Luxembourg, the Dutchman closed the race with an extraordinary victory and, above all, with the sensations he had been seeking all week.

Van der Poel didn't set out thinking about attacking from so far

His attack of about 175 kilometers solo turned into one of the great masterclasses of the season. And the curious thing is that there was no prior intention to tackle the stage that way. "It wasn't the plan before the start," Van der Poel admitted after winning.

The move came very early and the race situation ended up placing him alone in front. Instead of easing off immediately, he decided to continue at his own pace and use the day to make his own effort.

"I just found myself alone at the beginning of the race and I just rolled at my own pace all day".

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At that moment, there was still practically a whole stage ahead. It was reasonable to think that the race would regroup and Van der Poel himself expected the pursuers to catch up with him.

But the kilometers went by and the opposite happened. The lead began to grow again and what had started without too many pretensions began to look like a real opportunity for victory.

"At first, I thought the pursuers would come back. But I kept riding at my power and then the difference started to increase again. It was at that moment that I decided to try to make it to the finish."

From there, there was no turning back. Van der Poel turned an unexpected situation into a gigantic individual time trial and managed to keep all his pursuers behind him until crossing the finish line in first position.

This feeling is exactly what he was looking for before the World Championship

The magnitude of the breakaway explains the victory by itself, but for Van der Poel, there was another possibly more important reading. The Dutchman will face the World Road Championship in Montreal next Sunday and Luxembourg was his last test before traveling to the big event. And during the previous days, he had not precisely found the sensations he was expecting.

"In the last few days, I didn't really have the legs I wanted. I came from Spain and maybe I had trained too much".

But that changed completely in the last stage. "Today I had incredible legs."

Van der Poel had also won the first day of the Tour of Luxembourg, but this last victory seems to have a different value due to the moment it arrives and, especially, because of how it happened.

The Dutchman completed practically the entire stage solo and was able to maintain a high effort for more than four hours. More than a last victory before the World Championship, Luxembourg has served him to confirm that his legs are responding again after a few days in which he himself admitted not feeling as he wanted. "Above all, the important thing is the feeling of today."

With a week to go until the World Championship, that is probably the phrase that best summarizes what Van der Poel takes away from Luxembourg.