"The cross itself is actually the least of it all" - Father Adrie comments on Mathieu van der Poel's cyclocross season so far

Mathieu van der Poel capped off his 2024 cyclocross season with a dominant performance at the World Cup Besançon. The rainbow jersey wearer showed his class, defeating Toon Aerts, who finished second, and Niels Vandeputte in third.

While Van der Poel’s commanding display secured the win, his father, Adrie van der Poel, shed light on the physical and mental toll the season has taken on his son whilst working as an analyst for Play Sports.

"It's the journey there, the reconnaissance, the warming up, the competition, the cooling down and then the whole ceremony for the top three. Doping control and so on, so you're busy all day long. And then you have to get on the bus and go home, after which the story starts all over again at the next cross. The cross itself is actually the least of it all: you're just busy for an hour. But everything around it makes it intense."

Adrie highlighted the challenges of the intense cyclocross schedule:

"And then the races follow each other very quickly. Mathieu feels that he has already ridden five crosses in seven days. His first cross was great, but after that you could see the difference when he rode against fresher riders. We saw that with Laurens Sweeck in Loenhout, and then the differences are smaller. Then it is up to Mathieu to stay focused. But it is a tiring period. The attention? Mathieu grew up with the attention, so he has learned to deal with that."

Reflecting on Van der Poel’s performance in Besançon, Adrie commented on his riding style and the demands of the course, "You can see it in his way of riding, that he has only ridden a few races. It's staying focused from start to finish. Mathieu wants to do everything perfectly and well, but the difference between a good and a bad lap is also twenty seconds. You have to be in the race from the start and do your own thing, then you don't do crazy things. If you get too excited, you pay for it in cash. Certainly here in Besançon."

Adrie also emphasised the difficulty of the Besançon course, calling it one of the most demanding of the year, "I think this was one of the toughest cross-country races of the year and that it demanded a lot from the athletes. You could see that he couldn't do his thing in the first round, but now he's entered the top eight and then he can also be on the first starting row."