"It is truly history" - Dutch national coach full of praise for 'phenomenal' Mathieu van der Poel

Mathieu van der Poel has made history, becoming the first man to win both cyclocross and road World Championships also ending the long wait for a Dutch world champion. National team coach Koos Moerenhout was understandably full of praise.

"It was of course a very strange race. There were a number of falls for our team, which makes it more difficult for you as a team to get a grip on the situation," Moerenhout recaps to Wielerflits post-race. "We did have the right men up front with Mathieu and Dylan Van Baarle. Then a star ensemble remains and Mathieu drives away from there.”

Although he makes it sound simple there, it really was anything but. In one of the most dramatic World Championship races in a long while, even van der Poel's soloing to victory didn't come without drama as he hit the deck in the final few kilometres. “We had just joined his pursuers. They immediately said 'fall Mathieu'. Soon word came that he was back on the bike," says Moerenhout. "We were ready to go there, but a moment later you saw that he kept riding. That's fantastic."

“Absolutely a phenomenon. If you talk about the favourites, Pogacar, Van Aert and he belongs to them. Everyone is expected to win and make it to the final, but it's never that simple," he concludes. " And this generation of Dutch cyclists deserve to deliver a world champion one day, but that is no guarantee. Now that it is happening, it is truly history.”