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Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) has admitted to Cyclingnews that he felt a few regrets about not riding this year's Strade Bianche but said he would love to go back to the Tuscany gravel race, perhaps when he no longer races cyclo-cross in the winter.
The Alpecin-Premier Tech rider travelled to Italy on Saturday but to race this week's Tirreno-Adriatico as the final build-up to Milan-San Remo and the cobbled Classics.
Strade Bianche in early March comes too early and is perhaps too demanding for Van der Poel, as he tries to balance a winter cyclo-cross campaign, pre-season training and a Classics peak for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
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Van der Poel saw the highlights of Strade Bianche and how friend and rival Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) again dominated the race, sparking pangs of regret.
"Yeah, I regret not riding a little bit. It's a race I would love to participate in, " he said before the start of stage 2 of Tirreno-Adriatico, which ends with a sector of gravel and a climb up to the San Gimignano finish, which will likely suit the Dutchman.
"But the plan we make [for the season] is already a good one, I think, with the cyclo-cross and the rest of the races. Maybe one day I will do it again with a different winter program."
The current Strade Bianche route includes 4000 metres of altitude gain, with the two loops of the Colle Pinzuto-Le Tolfe climbs making for a spectacular but hard race.
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Van der Poel won Strade Bianche in 2021 when the course covered just one final lap. However, he sportingly accepted that he has to adapt to the race, not the other way around.
"My decisions are not based on the race route. The course is how it is, and they should not adapt it to how I wanted," he said.
"It's a really hard race, and so it will always be difficult to win. If you only start the races you can win, I would not race so much, but I would love to go back to Strade Bianche."
Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
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