Many were somewhat surprised to see
Mathieu van der Poel come in more than three minutes down on eventual winner
Michael Vanthourenhout at the infamous snow race, Val di Sole. Now Mathieu's father Adrie has given his opinion as to why "I think he was afraid."
According to
Adrie van der Poel "This was purely about confidence.” After all this was Mathieu van der Poel's first time riding on the snow and ice in competition. "He was really scared, I think," Adrie told Wielerfilts. "This never happens to him. It was his first time on ice and it doesn't help that he hardly did any crossing last year. He only has a few in his legs and has just returned from a Spanish road training. But you shouldn't look any further than fear, you saw that in every corner.”