"I didn’t expect this myself today" - 1:15 minutes enough for Mathieu van der Poel to drop entire cyclocross field and win debut cross in Zonhoven
Cyclocross
Mathieu van der Poel, like last winter, opened his cyclocross season with a victory after dropping his competition in a matter of just over a minute. A level above the rest, the World Champion won the World Cup Zonhoven this Sunday.
“And one that I didn’t really see coming. As I said before the start, I approached my first cross differently. I did a few less intervals and a few more endurance rides. I wanted to get through this busy period a bit fresher than last year," he said in a post-race interview. "But yes, I felt really good from the start. The technique was also really good, so I’m happy.”
Van der Poel will have his main goal at the World Championships in just over five weeks, but is already in an unmatchable form right from the start. “More than on schedule. I didn’t expect this myself today. I think it was to my advantage that it was such a tough cross. It was a bit less interval. I could just ride my own pace from the start. I’m really happy with the feeling I had.”
In the race that was highlighted by the sand sections, the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider moved up from a third row start into the head of the race in just over a minute, and made the difference immediately in the sand. “I had a good start. In the beginning you can’t do much when you’re in the group".
"The last bend before we went to the Kuil (the track's famous sand pit, ed.), I actually took quite badly. I made another mistake. But I think I came out of the mud better than the rest. I was on the right track straight away, also when leaving the pit.” There was no competition, he did the entire race by himself, at the pace he wanted, quickly building over a minute's lead over everyone ele.
“I just rode a fairly constant pace, a pace that suited me well. When you are alone, you can divide the course a little better. I was able to catch my breath a little better for the technical parts. Then you also make fewer mistakes.” Thibau Nys finished second to him, 1:30 minutes behind.
Only hours before the race, Team Visma | Lease a Bike confirmed the absence of Wout van Aert from tomorrow's Zilvermeercross, where the two were meant to be racing against each other for the first time this winter. “I think that is a great shame. Certainly for him," van der Poel commented. "I think he, like me, enjoys doing a few races. He didn't have many on it and then this one falls away."
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Mathieu van der Poel doing Mathieu van der Poel things 🌈
— Eurosport (@eurosport) December 22, 2024
He started third row on the startline 🤯#CXWorldCup pic.twitter.com/ZURFT56jaS
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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.
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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)...
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- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- I think that they're not really used to dealing with this type of incident in a cyclocross race, and the situation has been magnified because it was a race for a championship title. It's very unfortunate that the race had to be decided in this way.
santiagobenites07-11-2026 - Seriously why do they keep doing stupid things like this. Its one thing to relegate when the placings are minor, when the action is blatant. But when it is ambiguous, why dont they at least take advice from some higher up to avoid embarrassing themselves. This is similar to the Halland goal when his teammate was clearly offside and interfered in play and VAR gave them the goal. if you dont have evidence you cannot convict. Even for doping they have these rulesabstractengineer07-11-2026
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