Mathieu van der Poel went deep and seemed to suffer, like few other times in his career, to win stage 2 of Tirreno-Adriatico but a smile soon replaced his gasps for air, the cyclo-cross World Champion admitting the gravel racing and all-out sprint in the shadows of the towers of San Gimignano was "cool".
"I think it was good to see on television. I enjoyed it," the Dutchman said in the post-race press conference.
"It was actually a beautiful final, really hard as well, and nice for a finish show. I enjoyed it."
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Van der Poel seemed to savour every second of the five-kilometre gravel sector between the Tuscan olive trees and vineyards, while other riders struggled to control their bikes on the wet gravel and twisting farm tracks. He hit the front on the early uphill sector and never looked back, avoiding a couple of spills thanks to his superb cyclo-cross bike skills.
"It was quite tricky with the rain, very slippery and there were also some quite sketchy corners. The first key point was the positioning into the gravel section," he explained, playing down any sense of real danger.
"For me it was quite okay but I tried to stay out of trouble and my team did a good job. I was in front and I stayed out of trouble. So, I was quite good."
Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) emerged from the GC contenders to join Van der Poel and the three then rode up to San Gimignano together.
Pellizzari opened his sprint first on the rough paved narrow street but Van der Poel then caught and passed him and just held off the other two in a thrilling all-out sprint to the line.
"I didn't really wait for them, they just came back," he admitted about the moment Del Toro reeled him in when he was solo.
"Then on the slippery corner, when I lost my chain, I just had to push hard to get back to Del Toro's wheel. Afterwards I was also on the limit so didn't take many pulls. Of course, I knew he was going to pull for the GC. I tried to make the race as hard as possible, then everybody was in their place."
Van der Poel didn't win a stage at the 2025 Tirreno-Adriatico but emerged with the form to win Milan-San Remo, finished third to Tadej Pogačar and Mads Pedersen at the Tour of Flanders and won Paris-Roubaix. He appears on the same form trajectory this year, with his cyclo-cross campaign combined with warm-weather winter training giving him a solid base to improve in the weeks to come.
Van der Poel reiterated he has few regrets about not riding Strade Bianche, with the Tirreno-Adriatico gravel teaser very different to last Saturday's gruelling race, which included 50km of gravel and 4,000m of altitude gain.
"The first 150km of the stage was nothing special, I think you can do better numbers in training, but going as deep as I did today in the final is really difficult to simulate in training. That's also why we are here," he said.
"I'm here to try and get a little bit better for my main goals of the season and I think we're on schedule.
"I didn't win a stage last year, but I felt really good. I was close twice and I survived some really hard stages. But to win in a stage race, you need a bit of luck as well. I love to come and race and Tirreno, it's perfect for me as well to prepare my Classics."
