“I don't know why it took so long" - Joop Zoetemelk delighted to see long wait for Dutch road race world champion ended

Not since 1985 in Italy had a Dutchman been crowned the World Championship road race winner before last Sunday. It was Joop Zoetemelk back then and he is as pleased as anyone to finally have a successor in Mathieu van der Poel.

"A very nice race and a very nice winner," Zoetemelk told AD, expressing his delight at seeing van der Poel take the Rainbow Jersey. “I like that very much. In fact, it has taken much too long. I don't know why it took so long. You have to ask the riders that. Of course, a Dutchman could have won a little earlier. Mathieu too. But then everything has to go well.”

On a brutally tough day of racing in Glasgow, van der Poel survived a late crash to take the win ahead of Wout van Aert and Tadej Pogacar. “In the Tour he was hardly in the spotlight. He only helped his team. The sprinters were too fast, the other stages too tough," Zoetemelk analyses. "He has not ridden for the stage victories and he must have already been thinking about the World Championship."

“In the Tour he worked on his condition. Well, we saw that today,” the now 76-year-old concludes. “Of course he already knows what it is like to be world champion, but in the cross. He has won monuments. It is great that this is now also on it and when I see him riding like this, there will be a few things added.”