Van der Poel says Alpecin-Deceuninck ‘are stronger’ in Paris-Roubaix warning shot

Mathieu van der Poel feels Alpecin-Deceuninck will be at their strongest at Paris-Roubaix and sent a warning shot to rivals ahead of Sunday’s race.

The Dutch rider will hope to replicate last year’s impressive efforts where he triumphed in an Alpecin-Deceuninck one-two alongside Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen.

“I think [Lidl-Trek] showed already that they have quite a good tactic, but also we have more riders that are capable of going longer in Roubaix than in other races,” Van der Poel told reporters ahead of the ‘Hell of the North’.

“So, I think as a team we are maybe stronger here than we are in the other races.”

Five days on from his victory in Belgium, a relaxed Van der Poel revelled in how his team have performed this season.

“Until now I can only be really happy about the performance of the team, also in De Ronde they did an amazing job actually and we never panicked, so this is also what we try to do on Sunday,” he added.

Recently, much of Lidl-Trek’s gameplan has been made to attack the brilliant Van der Poel with multiple leaders in a bid to wear the Dutchman down before the finish.

Although that task has proved difficult, Trek’s Mads Pedersen pulled it off at Gent-Wevelgem in March, but Van der Poel admitted his team have ways they can combat the tactic.

“Roubaix is one of the strangest races, it can really happen at any moment also between the cobbles,” Van der Poel said.

“Also for [fellow Alpecin Deceuninck rider] Gianni [Vermeersch] it could be ideal to be in a group and not have to pull with us behind, so we have different cards to play, yes.”