Laurens Ten Dam talks about Mathieu van der Poel and gravel Worlds: "A guarantee of a top performance and a good result"

Laurens Ten Dam has left the pro peloton on the road already many years ago, but it was only one step in his career. Ever since, he's become a successful podcaster and benchmark of gravel racing in North American. This weekend he races the Gravel World Championships against some of the best in the world, including Mathieu van der Poel who he himself selected to race as he has the role of national coach.

"In the end, I only gave out one wildcard for the men, but to the person you would like to give it to as a coach: Mathieu van der Poel. That is of course a guarantee of a top performance and a good result," Dutch leader Laurens Ten Dam told Wielerflits. “But I did understand that he really has this World Championship high on his list. That’s perfectly fine".

However, he knows that riders, both from his nation and others, will mostly race individually and there aren't team tactics to apply. "In principle, I have little to do with how he does in racing. Participating in this World Championships is something he does for himself. So let me say up front that I’m not patting myself on the back for that. But I am very happy that he is participating. How cool is it to see the enthusiast in Mathieu van der Poel and all the others at work on Sunday at the Gravel World Championships?”

Ten Dam himself has raced quite strongly over the past few years and has continued to show a level worthy of being in the pro peloton on the road. He is aware that this is a very complicated task at hand, but that the enjoyment doesn't solely come from the results:

“Let me start by saying that they all started cycling because they liked it, but they turned out to be really good at it. That is why they became professional road cyclists. I am an enthusiast, I think that covers it for the most part. But I do not have the illusion that I can fool the Mathieus, Florian Vermeersch’ and Matej Mohorič’s of the world at the age of 43. That is not the ambition at all. But as a viewer you can watch a high level of cycling on Sunday. That is how you should see it on that course there," he concluded.