Mathieu Van der Poel described Lemko Evenpoel as "beyond arrogant" and insisted that he had no intention of following Wout Van Aert into the Grand Tour as a domestique.

In an interview with the Belgian magazine Humo (opens in new tab), van der Pol spoke of his "generation" and cited van Aert and Evenpoel as his main contemporaries, along with Julien Alaphilippe and Marc Hirsch.

"They have it all. 'Professional cycling is becoming like youth cycling again. There are open races and attacks. For me and my contemporaries, it goes without saying that we race like this.

Van der Pol admitted that Even Paul can only be considered part of that generation, given that he is only a 20-year-old Belgian. But in 2020, his second year as a U23-turned-pro, he has already taken the sport by storm, winning every stage race.

"What he can do now, I couldn't have done at that age. To ride a solo like that and win every round he entered is unprecedented," van der Pol said.

Van der Pol added that Evenpoel blurs the line between confidence and arrogance, but always backs it up on the bike. As a former soccer player, Evenpoel has never been shy about talking about his ambitions, and some have criticized his showmanship, such as his "shoulder brush" celebration at the Vuelta a Burgos.

"Sometimes I feel his comments are borderline, but everyone does that. If he wants to say things that way, he should," van der Pol said.

"This may seem arrogant to us, but from his point of view it is mainly a sign of confidence. Well, he may make great statements, but he often answers with pedals as well: he said he wants to be world champion in three disciplines and Olympic champion in mountain biking. This is another ambitious statement.

Van der Pol rarely talks about Evenpool, but he is used to being asked about Van Aert, his cyclo-cross nemesis and now his rival at the top level on the road. The two clashed over tactics in October's Ghent-Wevelgem and then fought together in the Tour of Flanders, but Van der Pol rejected the notion that the two should always be mentioned in the same breath.

"Sometimes it doesn't make sense. What Van Aat did in the Tour - to run in front of someone else - is not my ambition. I don't even know if I can do it. But as long as I haven't run the Tour, such comparisons are meaningless."

"No one is saying that Van Aert should prove himself on a mountain bike now. We both chose our paths. He chose the road cycling path because he wants to stay focused on mountain biking and I want to stay focused on mountain biking. But Wout and I owe a lot to each other. We make each other better and more popular.