While the vast majority of the Dutch team for the Cyclocross World Championships trained on Friday afternoon, Mathieu van der Poel preferred Saturday morning. The defending champion walked around before the junior women’s competition and then gave her opinion.
Much more difficult circuit
“It was much more difficult than I expected,” noted Van der Poel. The Dutchman reaffirmed what the Belgians said during the press conference on Friday night and each of them reaffirmed that Van der Poel is the man to beat.
The Alpecin-Deceuninck leader traveled from Eindhoven to the Czech Republic on Thursday in a plane full of Belgian fans, and also trained on the road on Friday.
“But I’m happy to have completed a few laps, because the route was very different to what I expected. This is real cyclocross, honestly it’s a lot harder than I expected in advance.
Mathieu Van der Poel confiante
“It’s a fair course, where the cyclist with the best legs will be world champion,” said Van der Poel, who could seek his sixth world title in Tábor. “I feel good and I’m already looking forward to Sunday”, concluded the Dutchman without hiding his optimism for the Tábor competition.