Mathieu Van der Pol (Alpecin Phoenix) will compete in Sunday's Tour de Flanders along with Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) and Julien Alaphilippe (Elegant Quickstep). However, last weekend in Ghent-Wevelgem, Van der Pol and Van Aart marked each other and dropped out of the race.

Van der Pol told Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday that he was puzzled by Van Aert's post-race comments last weekend.

"I still think I ran the race I should have run in Ghent-Wevelgem," Van der Pol said. 'Yes, the moment Van Aert is alone in the final, I will try to get him back. But what many people, including Wout, forget is that at that moment the entire chase group was looking at me to go get him.

"If I hadn't done that, I wouldn't have won anyway. 'Give Van Art ten seconds and you'll never see him again. So I ran behind him. I just wanted to win, pure and simple.

It was Van Aert who, in an interview immediately after last Sunday's race, exploded with frustration, effectively starting a war of words.

"Actually, there was only one rider who really wanted me," he said, referring to Van der Pol.

"Apparently he wanted to see me lose more than he wanted to create a chance for himself to win."

Until then, the rivalry between the two cyclocross world champions-turned-road stars had been mainly one of silent respect.

"I didn't expect him to be so irritated," van der Pol said of Van der Pol's reaction. 'I thought he understood what racing was all about. For me, it was a very strange reaction."

"It makes sense that I reacted to him. If he hadn't made that comment, I wouldn't have said anything. By the way, I said I reacted to him [during the race] because he is one of the best riders in the world today."

Whether the two riders can now put things right remains to be seen -- van der Pol said he has already done so -- but van der Pol also said that if the situation had been different, as he would have done last week in Ghent-Wevelgem, but in Flanders He said he would be happy to work with van Aert again if the opportunity arose.

"Rest assured. If Van Aert and I had been together 20 seconds earlier after Kemelberg, we would have worked together. 'That won't change at the Tour de Flanders. If the two of us can get together in Paterberg and open up a gap, it makes sense for us to ride together all the way to the finish. [With victories at Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo, the defense of his Belgian time trial champion title, stage wins at the Tour de France and Criterium du Dauphiné, and silver medals at the World Championships road race and time trial, Van Aert's 2020 season While few would deny that he had a better year, Van der Pol noted that he also did not have a bad year and did not need to win in Flanders to "save the season."

"Dutch road race champion, Tirreno-Adriatico stage winner, Bink Bank Tour stage winner and overall winner .......

"It's been a particularly weird season, one that doesn't seem to suit me 100%," he said. [I finished in the top 10 in Liège - Bastogne - Liège and also in Lombardy. But it's always the same that if I don't finish first, people think I'm not doing well," he said, sounding a bit tired.

In Flanders, Van der Pol named Van Aert as his main rival for victory in Oudenaarde on Sunday afternoon.

"I expect Alaphilippe to be up there, and Alberto Bettiol (EF Pro Cycling, last year's champion) was strong in Wevelgem. And of course Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), and we'll be keeping an eye on Yves Lampert (Elegant-Quick Step).

"Alaphilippe will be a good winner. I like him and he always looks good in the rainbow jersey on the podium. I like him and the rainbow jersey always looks good on the podium. But whoever is the strongest deserves to win and will be a great winner in my eyes," said van der Pol: "If Van Aert is the strongest in the Ronde, he will be a great winner. If Van Art is the strongest in the ronde, he will be a great winner.