The World Cup in Gavere, despite Van der Poel’s dominance, promised a titanic duel among the three Cyclocross giants (Van der Poel, Van Aert, and Pidcock) for the second time this European winter. Naturally, this attracted thousands of spectators.
Boos for the champion Mathieu Van der Poel
The combination of high stakes, a large audience, and top cyclists at the start can sometimes cause issues, and unfortunately, that’s what happened in Gavere, Belgium. There were many boos for Mathieu van der Poel in the Flemish crowd. This had already occurred in Herentals (where Van Aert did not compete).
Mathieu Van der Poel pushes opponent taking a selfie
Van der Poel also got involved in a minor incident. This occurred in the early laps of the race when Van der Poel was overtaking the Costa Rican Felipe Nystrom, who finished last in the race among those who did not abandon.
The incident is not entirely clear, but TV images seemed to show Nystrom taking a selfie with a fan and returning to the course with the bike on his shoulder as Van der Poel passed by. It wasn’t clear if this was the exact sequence of events, but Van der Poel pushed him as he passed, seemingly trying to maintain his line.
Watch the video with the footage of what happened: