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Showing His Strength RVV22-7
It was a real flexing of his cycling muscles when Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Finix) got away on the final climb with Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates). But when he had the legs to get up to speed so quickly as Dylan Van Baarle (Ineos-Grenadiers) and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) closed in. So naturally, he flexed his arms muscle as he punched the air in a victory salute. Van Baarle did get around Madouas to take second, leaving Pogacar gesturing in frustration as he finished the day in first. As it was said on air, he has only himself to blame having played "cat and mouse" in the final meters of the race. A game that let the two that beat him in the sprint able to catch the leading duo. He did seem to be whining about getting shut off in his sprint by Van Baarle, but it was a clean sprint that used clean lines. I know I am most frustrated when things go wrong when I know it was my own fault, particularly when I knew that I wasn't ready for what could come.