Ten Dam shares amusing WhatsApp exchange with Van der Poel: "Will I get a bonus from Moerenhout for this too?"

The road race at the World Cycling Championships in Zurich was won by Tadej Pogacar, who broke away with a hundred kilometers to go and didn’t see anyone until the finish. Shadow favorite and defending champion Mathieu van der Poel impressively secured third place. Afterwards, the Dutch rider announced that he would only compete in the gravel World Championship this year, something that gravel national coach Laurens ten Dam responded to in the renowned cycling podcast Live Slow Ride Fast.

It was a bit of a guessing game regarding what Van der Poel would actually compete in for 2024. There were widespread claims that the Tour of Lombardy would be on his schedule, but the man from Kapellen debunked that. "I’m only doing the gravel World Championship, and then I’m going on vacation," he said decisively from Switzerland. "I have no idea where that rumor came from. Not from me, at least."

This did confirm that Ten Dam, as the national coach of TeamNL, can count on the glutton known as Van der Poel. "I had a WhatsApp conversation with Mathieu, one with a humorous tone," the gravel enthusiast shared on LSRF. "I asked Mathieu if he wanted to race at the World Championships. He jokingly replied that he always gets a little something from Koos Moerenhout when he participates in a world championship. He asked if that was the case for gravel too," a laughing Ten Dam recounted.

Dekker fails to qualify for the gravel World Championships at the national championships

"In the end, we managed to pull it off nicely," Ten Dam concluded, who also spoke with Thomas Dekker about the wildcard issue. Dekker would have been able to participate in the race in Leuven (on Sunday, October 6) via a wildcard if he placed in the top three at the national gravel championships. "But that was a whole different story," Dekker noted, ultimately ending up with a DNF. "It was very well organized, and I had a great day. Did I believe I could qualify? You always fool yourself a little bit. But looking back, I can say it wasn’t very realistic, haha!"

The calendar for the new cyclo-cross season is now online! Check it out here. Or check out our general calendars for the remainder of the season for the men and women's races.