“Van der Poel is physically and mentally completely on top”: Cyclocross record-breaker backed to carry winter dominance into Spring Classics

Mathieu van der Poel did not just win in Hoogerheide. He finished the World Cup season looking like a rider already operating in the exact mode that decides the Spring Classics: measured early, ruthless when he chooses to go, and clinically error-free when the pace turns into separation.

That is why the reaction from analyst Thijs van Amerongen carries weight beyond routine post-race praise. Van Amerongen described Mathieu van der Poel as “physically and mentally completely on top”, said on Eurosport, and the implication is clear. This is not a winter form that needs time to translate. It is a peak that already resembles one day road racing at its sharpest.

The record itself, 51 World Cup wins, is the historic headline. It places Van der Poel alone at the top of the all-time standings and closes a chapter of cyclocross history that had stood for a decade.

The more relevant detail for what comes next is how he achieved it. Van Amerongen noted that Van der Poel was riding “a few kilometres per hour faster” than everyone else, a gap that is devastating in cyclocross and just as decisive on the road when one acceleration turns a compact group into a line.

Cyclocross dominance in isolation proves little about road translation. What matters is the expression of that dominance. In Hoogerheide, Van der Poel did not grind the field down through repeated efforts. He waited, observed, and then ended the race with a single, decisive change of speed.

Van Amerongen pointed to the opening phase as telling. “Those two laps must have been very calm for him,” he said, stressing that even while riding within himself, Van der Poel was already operating at the highest level in the world. Riders such as Tibor del Grosso and Thibau Nys were not being outclassed by a specialist, but by someone with a visible surplus.

When Van der Poel did accelerate, the effect was immediate. “They just can’t follow,” Van Amerongen observed. He added that “the best Van Aert can maybe follow”, something that has been seen once this season, but that “even Wout then ends up crashing under the pressure from Van der Poel”, underlining how narrow the margin is even for his greatest rival, Wout van Aert.

Van Amerongen’s most telling assessment was not technical but holistic. “He is physically and mentally completely on top,” he said. That pairing is crucial. Power without composure leads to wasted effort. Composure without legs leads nowhere. Van der Poel currently has both.

It is also not accidental. Van der Poel has built a career on peaking precisely when it matters most. Van Amerongen called it “very impressive that he is always good at exactly the moments when it has to happen”, while noting that such reliability is far from guaranteed at the highest level.

That is why the analyst sees continuity rather than decline ahead. Van Amerongen suggested Van der Poel would “probably also be very good again at Milano-Sanremo”, framing the winter finale not as an endpoint, but as confirmation.

Hoogerheide, then, was not merely a farewell to the cyclocross season. It was a statement of readiness. The record is secured, the winter objectives are complete, and the manner of victory suggests no reset is required. When the Spring Classics begin, Van der Poel will not be searching for form. He will already be riding in it.