Não houve oposição para Mathieu van der Poel no X2O Trophy Herentals. O campeão mundial exerceu domínio do início ao fim em sua primeira participação na temporada de ciclocross 2023-2024. Em uma entrevista rápida ao Wielerflits após a corrida, ele comentou: “Na verdade, tudo correu muito bem desde o início”.
“Rapidamente me vi sozinho”, Van der Poel continuou sua história. “Eu imediatamente tive uma boa vantagem. Depois disso, foi uma longa hora sozinho.”
Advantage already in the first lap
Van der Poel already made the difference in the first of the 8 laps planned. Was that the plan? “I felt quite strong and knew that the Ski Mountain (a tough climb on the course) was the hardest point on the circuit. And I felt good, so I immediately got into the right rhythm. Quickly, I chose my own pace.”
Click below to see the difficulty of the climb:
Was it boring to ride alone for an hour?
“Definitely not, I enjoyed it. There was only one moment of inattention when I fell to the ground. But other than that, it was good to be back. I like doing this: riding at my own pace, choosing my own lines. So it was fun. I trained a long time to get back there, and it’s good to get confirmation immediately.”
For the spectator, it wasn’t an exciting race due to Van der Poel’s dominance, confesses the world champion. “No, but I suffer a lot during training. So I just do my job in races. It certainly won’t be like this in every race, so we’ll probably have some exciting races during the Christmas period, I think.”
Watch the interview: