"Mathieu is quite willing to skip a winter" - Adrie van der Poel agrees that a year off cyclocross may benefit World Champion

It can be said that Mathieu van der Poel lives in a world of his own. For the past three years, he has won all but one cyclocross race that he took to the start line, but after a while it leads to competitive monotony. The World Champion may not be present next year in the discipline if he finally breaks the world championship record this February, and his father Adrie van der Poel agrees that this could be good for him.

That wasn't going to happen this year, as the Dutchman focused on the Tour de France, but then did not have many goals afterwards to prolong his season. "Mathieu will not skip cyclocross this winter if he finishes his road season early. Because then the period without competition and pressure will be very long," Adrie van der Poel told Sporza.

However under different circumstances, the Dutchman could very well do so. “If Mathieu were to ride the Vuelta, followed by a few Italian autumn races, then it might be the right time to take a winter off from cyclocross," Adrie argues. The same could be said for him aiming at the World Championships, however most years prior and ahead feature climber-suited routes where beating someone like a peak form Tadej Pogacar or Remco Evenepoel is simply not realistic for van der Poel.

At the beginning of his campaign, he admitted that he is open to that, but it depends a lot on whether he wins the World Championships this year. That would put him in a position of record-holder, with no rider having an apparent chance of matching him in a near-future. With a spotless victory rate thus far this winter, there are not many reasons to believe van der Poel will be stopped in his pursuit of another rainbow jersey.

“I think it would be good for his head," van der Poel senior believes. There will be nothing left to achieve other than extending his records, virtually. Whilst that would more firmly plant him in the history books, it's not the absolute priority for van der Poel. His success on the road, and experimenting with a different winter, are perhaps more important by this time next year.

"It’s not about what I think is right, but what Mathieu thinks is right. He makes his own choices. It would be nicer if Mathieu were there (the Hoogerheide World Cup, organized by Adrie, ed.). But when I hear him talk, there's a chance he won't be there, because Mathieu is quite willing to skip a winter".