"You either have this or you don't": Zonneveld sees in Del Grosso the "X-factor" which makes Van der Poel special

The National cyclocross Championships weekend brought about many impressive performances as well as surprises, but perhaps the greatest was witnessed in the women's elite race at Dutch Championships. In the most anticipated race of the women's cyclocross branch, Lucinda Brand was the outright favourite. But... something was wrong and the 36-year-old was "only" third for the first time in nearly year.

"She didn't feature at all," journalist Thijs Zonneveld begins his analysis on the In de Waaier podcast. "She was dropped in the first lap and we haven't seen her since. That's pretty strange, considering you've won pretty much every race this year."

Brand provided the extreme cold as a reason of her poor performance. "It's different when it's this cold. Everyone has a tipping point where their performance starts to decline. When you're so focused on keeping warm, you have a problem. It might be different from one day to the next, but of course, there are riders who can handle that better than others."

The race was won by the in-form Ceylin Alvarado. "She's riding well. She started the season later, of course, due to knee problems." Zonneveld believes this to have been her advantage over the "over-raced" Lucinda Brand who barely caught a break since October.

In any case, we shouldn't draw any conclusions from this race towards the World Championships set three weeks from now. Taking place on the home course in Hulst, the Dutch ladies will be again pushed to the maximum of their abilities by Dutch fans. And Zonneveld is convinced that Brand can "absolutely" turn things around and be back to her best self there.

"These courses are really different than when the rain thaws. Then you get mud courses, and those are much more power-driven and less technical. That's really different. There's a good chance it will be mud in Hulst. That's a real advantage for Brand, because you see how technically skilled Alvarado is."

On contrary, the men's race lacked a clear favourite, although the name of Tibor del Grosso would be brought up more often than anyone else's. And even though it was far from a walk in the park, the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider's determination was rewarded with a successful defense of the national title.

But his closest rivals deserve a word of praise from Zonneveld as well. "I really enjoyed [Lars] Van der Haar and [Pim] Ronhaar, how they didn't let it go. But also how cool Del Grosso remains, even when he falls."

Zonneveld was mainly focused on what was, for him, the defining moment of the race: "Del Grosso jumped off his bike, over the rails, and when he jumped back on, his pedal got a little tap, which caused the chain to fall off."

A disaster for a mortal human, but nothing that would stop the man looking to surpass Mathieu van der Poel: "He put his chain on while riding! He was clipped in, pedaling, saw there was no pressure on his chain, and then put it on with his hand while riding. I love that. It looks so easy, but it's not that easy, especially when it's cold."

"That was so smooth and so fast," Zonneveld continues admiringly. "He lost a few seconds, and that was it. If that happens in a different way, like him having to get off the bike or getting his chain stuck, then you really need time. You might lose the National Championships that way."

And so the comparison with the great Mathieu van der Poel is inevitable. "This is the X-factor. This is Van der Poel's way of saying: 'I'll just knock a pebble away' or 'I'll save myself from a crash where everyone else would have crashed.' These are the little things... you either have this or you don't. You see that in him, and you'll see it even more in the coming years," concludes Zonneveld.