"Now there is nothing for me to win this season" - Mathieu van der Poel completely relaxed into end of the season

Mathieu van der Poel returned to competition at the Bretagne Classic, debuting his rainbow jersey. He wasn't in contention for victory, the Dutchman has achieved what he wanted from the 2023 season and now he will have no pressure to win throughout the coming weeks.

“I was not good enough, a bit what I expected. Because I haven't trained with intensity yet," van der Poel told AD. "I ended up in a good group, so I just kept going. That makes me even better towards the next races. I still want to keep racing a bit and stay in shape until that test event on the mountain bike for the Games in Paris. I'd rather race than train. There is quite a bit of decompression."

The Dutchman took time off after the brutal World Championships, well deserved after a season where he also won Milano-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix, whilst then helping Jasper Philipsen and Alpecin-Deceuninck to collective success at the Tour de France as a new leadout star. He kept the focus after the Tour ended and showed up in Glasgow with terrific form, taking a dominant win in the hilly circuit. “Now there is nothing for me to win this season," he says.

He will surely prepare for the cyclocross worlds later in the winter, but for the time being he has a few months with no real goals. He has added a few races to the calendar to help the team and have fun on the bike, whilst also showing off his new colours. "That also plays a role in training, so I prefer to race. The World Championships was of course earlier than usual, so I also thought it was too early to rest now. Then it will be a very long time without races," he concluded.