What a race! E3 Saxo Classic delivered us fans a superb tease of what we can expect for the monstrous monuments this year. If it’s any kind of prelude to what’s to come in the Holy Week, we should be in for some classic classics action.
In just his second outing of the year, Mathieu van der Poel shone in his all-white world champ kit glory in the grim, wet final kilometers of the race to take his first win of the season. This year’s E3 Saxo Classic was another slice of pure cobblestone, berg-bashing action.
This week also saw another first; away from the racing, it was announced that Mathieu had inked a ten-year deal with his current bike sponsor, Canyon, something we’ve never seen in the sport before, at least for an active professional.
We’ve seen ex-pros sign on the dotted line, becoming brand ambassadors in the post-racing life. For example, for the past few years, Marcel Kittle has been the (very handsome) face of Rose Road bikes (it’s undeniable, isn’t it? He is a good-looking fella). There’s also Andre Greipel, who not only signed on as an ambassador for Uvex helmets and sunglasses but also helped develop and deal with mediating between the brand and their sponsored Team Intermarche-Wanty.
The closest deal to what Van der Poel has that springs to mind recently is that of Peter Sagan’s and Sportful, again a 10-year contract. What was surprising about that particular deal when struck in 2022 between Sagan and the Italian clothing manufacturer was that Sportful knew he was closing the door on his road racing career at the end of that season. So yeah, it’s unprecedented. It has me asking many questions about the structure of it, but it certainly shows that the reigning world champion is happy about his Aeroad, and about what Canyon can produce in the future.
After a rain-soaked finale to E3 Saxo Classic, I dashed around the pits, knowing team mechanics would be packing up quickly. I made a beeline for the Alpecin-Deceuninck team bus where I got a little look at what Mathieu used this past weekend and what he’ll be riding (in its many iterations) over the next decade.
Enjoy the video.
Cheers,
Dave
The computer mount of the Canyon Aeroad is 3D printed.
His bike isn’t all that flash. It’s pretty standard. There’s no Ceramic Speed or OSP in sight; it’s just reliable yet top-end equipment. Oh, and a dash of rainbows.