Mathieu van der Poel "surprised" his first probe turned out to be World Championship winning: “To be honest, I felt I still had another attack in me"

Mathieu van der Poel romped home in style to take the first road race World Championship win of his career in Glasgow on Sunday. His brutal race-winning attack came relatively late on in the race and completely snapped the elastic to his rivals, surprising even van der Poel himself.

“To be honest, I felt I still had an attack in me. But I was surprised that my first attack was the right one," he revealed in the post-race press conference. "If you look back after an attack like this and you don't see anyone, it immediately gives you a lot of confidence. You are the strongest in the group and that is a wonderful feeling. Afterwards I was able to maintain a high leg pace, so I knew it was difficult for the rest to come back. At a certain point they start looking at each other, after which the gap grows even bigger.”

There was still one more twist in the tale however, as the Dutchman flew around the Glasgow city circuit, the wet roads caused him to slip and crash into the barriers. “On instinct, I think. You just want to get back on the bike as soon as possible," he says on the incident. "Fortunately, I was able to find my rhythm again. I just didn't trust the corners after that, so that made it even harder mentally."

"But I felt that my legs were still strong. Seeing my lead grow again gave my confidence a huge boost. At one point they came riding next to me with a minute lead on the board," he continued. "Then I knew that – if I drove slowly and stopped taking risks in the corners – I was going to make it. That was an incredible feeling.”

Finally, the question of how he celebrates, knowing that he still must contest for the rainbow bands in the Mountain Bike next Saturday.

“Normally I wouldn't do that until after the mountain bike world championships next Saturday, but I made an exception," he says. "I still have a few days to recover and this is a very special moment, I didn't want to let it pass.”