"In certain crosses Mathieu had no luck" - Teammate Vermeersch sure that Mathieu van der Poel is not behind Wout van Aert

Gianni Vermeersch the 30 years old Belgian cyclist who is teammate of Mathieu Van der Poel in Alpecin-Deceunick made an interview for Sporza.

He was talking about the duels between his teammate and Wout Van Aert and his own ambitions at road cycling, cyclocross and gravel.

“In certain crosses Mathieu had no luck in the closing stages. Think of Loenhout and Zolder. The preponderance (of Van Aert, ed) is less than sometimes thought. And Wout always goes full out to the finish”, stated the Belgian when asked about the superiority of his compatriot Van Aert against his teammate Van der Poel.

However, for the next race of the World Cup, Veermersch is confident that Van der Poel will give his best and possibly beat his rival Van Aert.

“It will be very nice. Hoogerheide is always tough, especially with the weather conditions of the past few weeks. And Mathieu is riding close to home: no lack of motivation”, he stated about the World Cup race.

Gianni Veermersch raced few races of cyclocross due to a lack of cross-specific training, preferring to focus on the preparation for the road season. Still the Belgian doesn't feel worried about not participating much in the cyclocross races and is targeting the Gravels Championship.

“I'm not worried, after that, I hope to go to the Tour. And after that there might be time for gravel, but if I don't ride the Tour, it will normally be the Vuelta. That could then also be a good preparation for the World Gravel Championship”, he said.

Gianni Veermersch became last year the first ever Gravel World Champion. The Belgian made history in Italy finishing ahead of Daniel Oss and his teammate Mathieu Van der Poel. He aims to continue is world title rain and despite being the first champion he doesn't think much about it.

“I didn't think about it at the time, but that goes into the history books, yes. It definitely boosted my self-confidence.”, concluded Veermersch.