09/08/2023

"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

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."

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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.

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"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."