Bart Wellens on comeback of Mathieu van der Poel in Zonhoven - "When I saw him ride away after a good minute, I thought: 'sh*t'"

Mathieu van der Poel is back in the cyclocross field and as expected, he kicked it off with two comfortable wins - in Zonhoven and Mol respectively. Whilst his impressive performances are something to behold, it can also be argued that the tension in the races has rather disappeared and not everyone is happy with the outcome.

"Mathieu has had two impressive days. Still, opinions are divided. Everyone is happy that he is back, but the way he went about it on Sunday in Zonhoven is a bit of a blow," Wellens told Het Nieuwsblad. "When I saw him ride away after a good minute, I thought: 'shit'. His supremacy is incredibly impressive, but because of that there was nothing to see at the cross itself."

Wellens of course refers to the World Champion's domination in the World Cup race, where he easily distanced the field within minutes of the start and the victory was never in doubt. This is a rather sharp contrast with the races we've seen on the men's side until this weekend. "If you immediately ride away, you can hardly let everyone return. So in that respect I understood it, but it is not good for the tension that Mathieu is there again. That is simply not fun. Certainly not for the people who pay 25 euros to not see any battle."

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Mathieu van der Poel wants to ´make the gap smaller to Tadej Pogacar - "I sometimes ride behind him too"

TV ratings have been very high this winter in most races and even attendance has. Whilst van der Poel and Wout van Aert's presence in the cyclocross events makes them more attractive in a way, it is very unlikely that the fights for victory will be as exciting as in the opening two months of the season. However this Monday van der Poel was not as untouchable, to which Wellens commented: "In Mol he waited 25 minutes and that created more tension - or at least Mathieu kept up appearances. And in the end we got to see a super nice cross."

"The big question is at what level he will ride. He tempers expectations, but Mathieu also said that he had only been on the cyclocross bike twice and he beat everyone by two minutes." It is expected that his form will rise, however last year he did not look as fresh at the World Championships as he did in other races, so he may opt with a more conservative strategy often.

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Visma report improvement in Wout van Aert's form: "He got up this morning in a reasonably good condition"

Wout van Aert was absent from Mol after a sudden illness previous day, but he should be set to race at the Exact Cross Loenhout on the 27th of December where the two should finally race against each other for the first time this winter. "... On Friday in Loenhout we will see very quickly where he actually stands now," Wellens said of the Visma rider.

The manager of the Charles Liégeois Roastery CX team remains optimistic that we will still have some great battles during the ongoing Christmas block: "I hope in any case that we will see duels between Wout and Mathieu. That those two, who made each other great, duel to the finish for the victory: that would be the best gift for all the people who come to the cyclocross during the Christmas period. But honestly: if I see Mathieu riding around like that, it will be difficult".

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Mathieu van der Poel victorious at the Zilvermeercross Mol - "It took a while before I really started riding through the sand well"