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Van der Poel formed part of the break in the opening stage of the UCI ProSeries event and helped lay the foundation for Jasper Philipsen’s eventual victory in the sprint.
Attacking with 88 kilometres to go wasn’t exactly the Alpecin-Deceuninck star’s plan going into the day but understood it would improve his own preparation for the French Grand Tour all the same.
“Let me first say that it was not my idea to go on the attack at 88 kilometres from the finish,” van der Poel told Dutch and Belgian media outlets, including Wielerflits and HLN.
“Well, I’m not hard to convince. The team wants to make the game difficult a little earlier. Jasper can handle a tough race better than the other sprinters.”
The 28-year-old still finished sixth behind Philipsen’s surge to the line and backed that up with a second-placed showing behind joint overall leader Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal Quick-Step) on Stage 2.
Battling Jakobsen also wasn't part of the plan for van der Poel, who was forced to make a "really fast" decision after Philipsen and Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny) were involved in a crash just four kilometres from the finish.
Such setbacks, including 13th at Dwars door het Hageland earlier this week, haven't fazed the Dutch rider. In fact, they've only accelerated his improvement with three stages still to come.
For van der Poel, the upturn in form is further justification of his decision to race in Belgium and not the Tour de Suisse like Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and the other rivals he’ll soon encounter at the Grand Depart in Bilbao.
“I noticed that my form is already better here than five days ago in Hageland,” van der Poel said. “I often need a few races to be really super.”
“A day like today is exactly why I’m here and not in Switzerland,” he added.
“I hope that I recover well and that I can also race attractively in the other stages in the coming days.”
