Just a day after a big recon training session on the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix, Mathieu van der Poel crossed the border for another 138km on the stones.
This time, the Dutch superstar took on the twists and turns of the Tour of Flanders ahead of his full-scale assault on the postponed Classics when the season restarts.
Van der Poel spent four hours covering 138km of the Belgian cobbled Monument on Tuesday (June 30) with Alpecin-Fenix team-mates Jonas Rickaert, Scott Thwaites and Senne Leysen.
This time the cyclocross world champion held 35.1km/h for the whole ride, push an average of 277w for the duration.
Van der Poel covered some of the iconic climbs from the 266km-long race, which is now scheduled to be held on Sunday October 18.
He rode the Oude Kwaremont, the Koppenberg and the Paterberg during the recon, but this time he didn’t set any KoMs on Strava like he did on the Roubaix recon.
On Monday (June 29), the 25-year-old took a trip into northern France to ride the final 100km of the Roubaix Monument with his team-mates and took a few Strava KoMs over the iconic farm tracks.
The 25-year-old finished the 106km ride in three hours, averaging 290 watts for the duration and holding a staggering average speed of 35.5km/h.
On his way to Roubaix, Van der Poel topped a few Strava leaderboards, including a 240 metre stretch of the Templeuve cobbled sector, which he rode in 18 seconds, with an average power of 620w and holding a speed of 48.1km/h.
Van der Poel is also the fastest rider (on Strava) to complete the Pavé Bourghelles á Wannehain segments, covering the 1.18km in 1-40 with an average power of 491w.
Both Roubaix and Flanders were initially scheduled for their usual slots in April, but were then postponed due to the coronavirus crisis.
Van der Poel will ride Flanders for the second time in October, having finished fourth on his debut last season.
The following weekend he is scheduled to make his Paris-Roubaix debut, after Alpecin-Fenix were formally invited as a wildcard team in January.
Alex is the digital news editor for CyclingWeekly.com. After gaining experience in local newsrooms, national newspapers and in digital journalism, Alex found his calling in cycling, first as a reporter and now as news editor responsible for Cycling Weekly's online news output.
Since pro cycling first captured his heart during the 2010 Tour de France (specifically the Contador-Schleck battle) and joining CW in 2018, Alex has covered three Tours de France, multiple editions of the Tour of Britain, and the World Championships, while both writing and video presenting for Cycling Weekly. He also specialises in fitness writing, often throwing himself into the deep end to help readers improve their own power numbers.
Away from journalism, Alex is a national level time triallist, avid gamer, and can usually be found buried in an eclectic selection of books.
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