There was no Olympic medal for Mathieu van der Poel in Paris after the Dutchman started as one of the top favorites in the road race.
“It was a difficult race,” he said afterwards. “When Remco went and no one reacted, I knew straight away that it was going to be very difficult.
“I didn’t necessarily go deep into the red there. We rode away with four or five men, all strong riders. We also had a nice gap, so I thought the race would be between us. But when we were caught again, Remco went at the right moment.”
“I had already said before that he was one of the dangerous riders to let go. Dylan (van Baarle) did well by keeping the gap as small as possible. I did all or nothing one more time on Montmartre. I got Wout (van Aert) with me and of course he didn’t ride, because Remco was in the front. That’s the race situation.”
Van der Poel’s disappointment ‘isn’t too bad’, he says.
“I think I was good, but it was just a very difficult race,” said the world champion, who eventually finished twelfth.
