"We ended up in a kind of club or disco. Mathieu had rented it" - Dylan van Baarle on post-van der Poel victory at World Championships
Cycling
Dylan van Baarle has been close to the rainbow jersey in 2021 but this year, despite good form, he stood no chance. He was far from as explosive as required for the Glasgow circuit, but his teammate Mathieu van der Poel found himself in the perfect conditions.
"It's very special, because this doesn't happen every year. And also the way in which. Mathieu showed that he was by far the strongest," van Baarle said in an interview with AD. "I already got the feeling during the race that he was okay, although I only ride with him at World Championships. You could see it in his way of riding and it showed as the finish got closer... This race was not ideal for me, because those guys are so explosive. I just can't."
Van Baarle rode to 12th place on the tricky streets of Glasgow, but the main focus was on van der Poel's win. He had no idea of his attacks and crash until the very end of the race due to the lack of communications. "He said afterwards that his [shoe] plate had broken off and that he couldn't do his pedal stroke completely normally, because otherwise he would click out."
"That makes it all even more impressive. He was so strong that he solved everything on his own. We didn't have earphones, so I think I spoke to him two or three times along the way." Van Baarle said that he also saw damage on van der Poel afterwards, today the Dutchman stated that he would miss the Short Track World Championships in an effort to recover into Saturday's XCO Worlds.
"It was first in the hotel with the whole team, a toast and a hamburger," van Baarle concludes, telling the after-race party in Glasgow. "Not much was open in Glasgow, so we ended up in a kind of club or disco. Mathieu had rented it, so no one was there. We were there with fifteen men, with the Australians who also came. We finally went to look a door further and ended up in a casino. It was fun, with not too much of a hangover on Monday. That was nice."
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Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- He is boring
leedorney08-11-2026 - To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
Dariusz08-11-2026 - Uwielbiam patrzeć, jak wyjeżdża na czoło peletonu i zaczyna się rzeź...Dariusz08-11-2026
- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
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Grinta, passion and determination turned into perfection! 🥇 🌈 WORLD CHAMPION! 🌈 @mathieuvdpoel x @CyclingWorlds #GlasgowScotland2023 #MVDP #AlpecinDeceuninck
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