Mathieu van der Poel victorious in Gavere: "At the end it was a lot of suffering"

Mathieu van der Poel was the man to beat in the Gavere World Cup and he did not disappoint. A race from the front, the Dutchman made the difference early on and had the endurance to keep a strong pace all throughout the hour to take another big win.

“The mud was very sticky. It became more difficult to control the bike every lap. At the end it was a lot of suffering. It's very difficult to follow the wheel on a track like this," van der Poel said in a post-race interview. "It is much better to be at the front and choose your own lines. The race was so tough that it was better to find my own rhythm right from the start.”

The World Champion did not take the holeshot and spent some minutes riding in the wheels, but as soon as he reached the front he made the difference. Wout van Aert briefly followed him but there was little to do. Van der Poel soared to his fourth win of the season, despite being a very hard race he won with relative comfort.

The mud was an issue for him, but taking into consideration the gaps at the finish line, he didn't struggle with it more than his rivals. “I didn't really have any questions about my fitness. But it would have been better if it had stopped raining beforehand, because it remained so sticky. It was very difficult to keep riding lines.”