{"id":194879,"date":"2024-01-29T12:17:49","date_gmt":"2024-01-29T12:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=194879"},"modified":"2024-01-29T12:17:49","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T12:17:49","slug":"van-der-poel-in-dominant-form-ahead-of-the-world-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/01\/29\/van-der-poel-in-dominant-form-ahead-of-the-world-championships\/","title":{"rendered":"Van der Poel in Dominant Form Ahead of the World Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

If any of his rivals in the upcoming Cyclo-cross World Championships in Tabor, Czech Republic, found a reason to hope in Mathieu van der Poel\u2019s recent loss to arch-rival Wout van Aert, the reigning world champion has shown them they were greatly mistaken. Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won two races over the weekend in equally dominant (but different) fashion to again demonstrate his considerable superiority over his rivals.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the five-time \u2018cross world champion took off from a small lead group on a muddy stretch of the fourth lap in the X20 Trofee Hamme. European champion Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) was the only rider who could keep van der Poel in his sights but he never looked like threatening the winner, eventually finishing second, 16 seconds adrift. Vanthourenhout\u2019s teammate Eli Iserbyt finished third, at 51 seconds.<\/p>\n

Van der Poel said after the race that he was still feeling the intense training he had undergone in Spain earlier in the month. \u201cI still feel tired from the tough training sessions in Spain but that’s not a problem,\u201d he said. \u201cWe expected that in advance. It wasn’t bad but it lacked some freshness.\u201d As for Vanthourenhout, he said he was delighted to be able to stay close to van der Poel. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy to stay on the wheel [of Van der Poel], so I\u2019m very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next day, at the UCI World Cup Hoogerheide,\u00a0the final World Cup race of the season, van der Poel left it late, pulling away from the leading group of riders on the eighth of nine laps. This time, only Thibau Nys (Baloise Trek Lions) was able to follow him, though a gap slowly grew between the two riders. Nys tried valiantly to keep pace with van der Poel until he ran out of legs and eased up. At the start of the final lap, van der Poel had a lead of 8 seconds over Nys, with a group of three riders at 17 seconds.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Pim Ronhaar and Mathieu van der Poel at the UCI Worldcup Cyclocross Hoogerheide. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the end, the winning margin was 5 seconds over Nys\u2019s teammate Joris Nieuwenhuis, with another Baloise Trek rider, Pim Ronhaar, finishing third, at 9 seconds. The valiant Nys crashed on the final lap and finished fourth, with the same time as his teammate. Iserbyt finished fifth, also at 9 seconds, and will be crowned UCI World Cup champion for the 2023-24 season.<\/p>\n

The race was marred by several crashes early on, with a double crash ahead of the first curve creating gaps in the peloton. Several crashes followed on lap 2, and soon, there were groups stretched out over the course. Van der Poel was content to remain five riders off the lead until the middle of the race when he made a few brief breakaway moves. When he made a serious move on lap 8, it was curtains for the competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt okay but I had to do it in a slightly different way [than yesterday],\u201d he told Eurosport after the race. \u201cI’m good but after I attacked, I wasn’t as fresh as I was during the rest of the season. That’s normal, though, and it’s a good sign.\u201d He went on to say that he expected a hard race in Tabor. \u201cLast year was also a bit different. I only had one race the weekend before the Worlds and this weekend I raced yesterday and today, so it was a slightly different approach. I just need to rest, and then hopefully next week, I’ll have my best legs of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barring a crash or other incident, it’s hard to see anyone threatening van der Poel\u2019s quest for another world title \u2013 especially if, as he said, he wasn\u2019t at his best at Hamme and Hoogerheide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If any of his rivals in the upcoming Cyclo-cross World Championships in Tabor, Czech Republic, found a reason to hope […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":194880,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[328,329],"tags":[5940,631,3691,6916,2933,5928,831,7582],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-194879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-outdoor-mountain","category-road-cycling","tag-cx","tag-cyclo-cross","tag-eli-iserbyt","tag-joris-nieuwenhuis","tag-mathieu-van-der-poel","tag-michael-vanthourenhout","tag-wout-van-aert","tag-x20-trofee-hamme","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"\nVan der Poel in Dominant Form Ahead of the World Championships - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If any of his rivals in the upcoming Cyclo-cross World Championships in Tabor, Czech Republic, found a reason to hope in Mathieu van der Poel\u2019s recent\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/01\/29\/van-der-poel-in-dominant-form-ahead-of-the-world-championships\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Van der Poel in Dominant Form Ahead of the World Championships\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If any of his rivals in the upcoming Cyclo-cross World Championships in Tabor, Czech Republic, found a reason to hope in Mathieu van der Poel\u2019s recent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/01\/29\/van-der-poel-in-dominant-form-ahead-of-the-world-championships\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-29T12:17:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2024\/01\/Mathieu-van-der-Poel-profimedia-0841397614-CVR.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"990\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"660\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tereza\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Siegfried Mortkowitz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/01\/29\/van-der-poel-in-dominant-form-ahead-of-the-world-championships\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/01\/29\/van-der-poel-in-dominant-form-ahead-of-the-world-championships\/\",\"name\":\"Van der Poel in Dominant Form Ahead of the World Championships - 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