Mathieu van der Poel: "I really wanted to win, I was not really satisfied in Mol"

Alpecin-Deceuninck rider Mathieu van der Poel has added World Cup Gavere to his list of achievements. The Dutchman fought hard against Tom Pidcock and Wout van Aert to take his third victory of the season.

Exact Cross Mol saw van der Poel finish second but today he finally got his revenge with the top podium position in Gavere. "I really wanted to win," Van der Poel said in the post race interview.

He further added, "As I already said, I was not really satisfied in Mol. I really wanted to get a good result today.” The big three battled it out for the majority of the race. It was Wout van Aert who posed the biggest challenge to him. During the third lap, he was able to drop the Belgian for good and create a gap for himself.

A muddy course, caused by rain, proved to be a challenge for the riders, but van der Poel took advantage of it. "There were a lot of factors. This lap is very tough, but also technical. I think it was a very nice race, there were also a lot of people. I enjoyed it. I'm happy with my win,” concluded the Dutchman.