Mathieu van der Poel says he is ‘100% ready for Paris-Roubaix’ after helping Jasper Philipsen at Scheldeprijs

ByNigel Chiu

Updated 06/04/2023 at 14:01 GMT

Mathieu van der Poel is one of the big favourites for Paris-Roubaix on Sunday and the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider has revealed he is “100% ready” for the final cobbled Monument of the season. In 2021, Van der Poel came third in a tight sprint finish between himself, Florian Vermeersch and the eventual winner Sonny Colbrelli. This year, Van der Poel is looking to win Paris-Roubaix for the first time.

Mathieu van der Poel says he is “100% ready” for Paris-Roubaix after playing leadout duties at Scheldeprijs on Wednesday.

Van der Poel did some of the early leadout work for Alpecin-Deceuninck team-mate Jasper Philipsen, who beat Team DSM’s Sam Welsford and Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan Team) in a bunch sprint.

The Dutchman has a career-best finish of third at Paris-Roubaix where he lost out to Sonny Colbrelli in one of the modern great Monument races.

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“It was definitely the best choice to start,” Van der Poel told Het Niewsblad after Schldeprijs.

“A 200km race with a strong team is better preparation than a training ride. I always found the gap between the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix difficult, so this Wednesday race was ideal.

“The team did a fantastic job and we actually always stayed out of trouble. I am 100% ready for Paris-Roubaix.”

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Van der Poel is set to go head-to-head against Wout van Aert this Sunday at Paris-Roubaix, which will be live across Eurosport, discovery+ and GCN.

Mads Pedersen, Filippo Ganna and Matej Mohoric are also likely to be among the contenders and Philipsen has admitted Alpecin-Deceuninck will be working completely for Van der Poel.

“Paris-Roubaix is the last race of my spring and Mathieu is in super shape,” he said.

“We will try to lead him to victory by entering the final with as many riders up front as possible. Two years ago I was in the early break and I was able to fulfil that task.”

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Eurosport’s 2023 cycling coverage will bring you the biggest races of the season, which of course include Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Roubaix Femmes.

Our coverage for the women’s race begins at 14:00 on Saturday, with the men’s race starting at 09:30 on Sunday.

Both events will be bookended by The Breakaway, where Orla Chennaoui will be joined by Dani Christmas, Adam Blythe and Dan Lloyd.

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Stream Paris-Roubaix and the 2023 cycling season live and on-demand on discovery+ and eurosport.com

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