Mathieu Van der Poel made his long-awaited 2020 road debut at last week's Volta Ao Algarve.

The Alpecin Phoenix rider insisted from the start that the five days of racing would be practice for future goals, and he was right. Van der Pol enjoyed a low-key race, worked for his teammates from time to time, and put in a solid performance in the summit finish of stage 2 on Alto da Foia.

The Algarve Volta was always going to be a quiet race for Van der Pol. It was his first race after the end of the cyclocross season, but it was a tremendously successful campaign that included 24 wins in 25 races, including world and European titles. Van der Poel's focus in Portugal was to go the distance in the spring before the classic season begins next weekend at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

"This was a preparation race, something I needed for what's to come," the Dutchman told Belga News Agency at the end of the final stage, a 20km time trial in Lagoa. I want to take it easy this week and fight for the win in Omloop."

Last year, Van der Pol went into the classic with a stage win in the four-day Tour of Antalya. This time, he will compete in the one-day race from Omloop to La Flèche Wallonne and the Catalunya Volta.

There will be plenty of racing days and training time to get in top form. Earlier in the week, the 25-year-old told Wielerfritz that his stage win in the Algarve would not mean much in terms of future goals, but that he had a strong performance in the second stage, Alto da Foia.

The climb was the queen stage of the race, and Van der Pol followed the lead group until midway through; two days later, on Alto do Malhão, a shorter but steeper climb, he was completely out of sight.

"I surprised myself with the way I rode on Thursday," he said. I was in the lead group for a long time. Saturday was a little too fast. Saturday was a little too fast.

"You could see the top 10 were all climbers. I wasn't disappointed after that. It was just a little too heavy for a climb like that, even when I was in great shape."

Van der Pol headed to the Algarve after a ski vacation and training.

"If you look at how prepared I was compared to the others at the start, it was impossible. I trained for a week after the ski vacation. It didn't have to be that way."

But the team did not have to.

But he intends to be up front in Saturday's Omloop, the first one-day race of 2020, with Dries De Bont, the Algarve Mountain Prize winner, and Christian Sbaralli, Scott Thwaites, Petr Vakochu, and Senne Leysen, Otto Vergheerde, will be joined by five new competitors.

The strength of Alpecin Phoenix's new classic team remains to be seen, but as everyone saw last year, Van der Pol wins races (GP Denain, Dwars door Fraunderen, Brabantspijl, Amstel Gold Race) regardless of team support He is more than capable.

"Of course, I'm going to fight at the front to win," Van der Pol said of Omloop. "One week makes a big difference for me. The Algarve went better than I expected.

"I have one long training ride to keep me busy. No reconnaissance is planned for the time being. Given the weather forecast, that's probably a good thing. "

February 29: Omloop het Newsblad

March 7: Strade Bianche

March 21: Milan - San Remo

March 23-29: Volta a Catalunya

April 1: Dwars door Fraanderen

April 5: Tour of Flanders

April 12: Paris-Roubaix

April 15: Brabantspaille

April 19: Amstel Gold Race

April 22: La Fleche Wallonne

May 23-24 May 23-24: UCI XC MTB World Cup, Nove Mesto

June 20-21: UCI XC MTB World Cup, Andorra

June 28: UCI XC MTB World Championships, Albstadt

July 27: Olympic XC MTB, Tokyo