Mathieu van der Poel was the man to beat at the Gavere World Cup (Belgium). However, once again, the Dutchman made the difference early on and managed to maintain a strong pace throughout the race to secure another significant victory.
It’s tough to find a wheel when there’s a lot of mud on the circuit.
“There was a lot of mud. It became more difficult to control the bike with every lap. In the end, there was a lot of suffering. It’s very challenging to follow a wheel on a track like this,” said van der Poel in a post-race interview.
“It’s much better to be at the front and choose your own lines. The race was so tough that it was better to find my own rhythm from the start.”
The decisive attack came a few minutes after the start.
The World Champion spent a few minutes controlling the wheel of his opponents, but once he moved to the front, he was relentless. Wout van Aert briefly followed, but there was little to be done. Van der Poel secured his fourth victory of the season, despite it being a very challenging race, which he once again won comfortably.
The mud was a challenge for him, but considering the distance to the competitors at the finish line (Wout Van Aert finished 36 seconds after the champion), he struggled no more with it than his rivals. Tom Pidcock closed the podium, finishing in 3rd place in the race.
“I really had no doubts about my fitness. But it would have been better if it had stopped raining earlier because it remained very sticky. It was very challenging to keep riding on the lines.”
Watch the champion’s finish:
Complete results of the Gavere World Cup 2023:
