🎥 Van der Poel makes cyclo-cross rivals look like amateurs, but falls short due to collision with pole: "I have myself to blame"

Mathieu van der Poel put on a phenomenal show in Benidorm on Sunday. The world champion in cyclo-cross had a terrible start due to chain problems, but this led to a rarely seen comeback race. A drone shot of a 300-meter climb at an 8 percent average gradient showcased the Dutchman's dominance, even though a crash in the final part made for a bitter ending.

After bike troubles, Van der Poel faced a tough task: recovering from nearly the last position. He quickly made up many positions, but it was especially on the bike path climb where he breezed past groups of five or ten riders at a time. Riding in two, three, or perhaps even four higher gears, he made his competitors look like amateurs. Even Wout van Aert - the current leader in the race at that time - couldn't keep up with his rival's climb.

However, things changed when Van der Poel, who was leading in the sixth lap, put on a major acceleration again. Tom Pidcock - who had just switched - and Michael Vanthourenhout were left behind, but this time Van Aert managed to keep up. Everything seemed set for a thrilling finale between the two, until Van der Poel suddenly found himself next to his bike again after a crash, allowing Van Aert to take advantage by clutching the victory.

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Van der Poel crashed into a pole

"I did expend quite some energy, yes," Van der Poel sighs after the race, speaking to, among others, IDLProCycling.com. "I quickly realized that it was almost impossible to drop anyone here, so I focused on the last lap. When we came out of the sandpit in the penultimate lap, I hit a cushion with my shoulder. But it turned out there was a pole behind it, so the cushion didn't give way. My own mistake, a pity. Although it would have been hard to win anyway, as I could feel I was losing some of that freshness. My shoulder is a bit sore, but other than that, I'm okay."

This came after two weeks of intense training and a comeback race that started in the first lap. "My chain fell off, so I had to put it back on," Van der Poel explains. His sprints on the climb, which he used to make his way back to the front, were impressive. He nearly dropped Van Aert in lap six... "It was the only part of the circuit where you could really use your power. Wout had led for a lap, so that felt like the toughest moment in the race. A good moment to attack, but the section was too short to drop someone like Wout. Whether we saw the best Wout of this cyclo-cross season here? This was a very different course, so it's hard to say."

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Van der Poel "not super fresh" in Benidorm

After crashing into the pole, we saw Van der Poel bow his head. He eventually finished fifth. "We stuck to the plan these two weeks, as planned, so I wasn't super fresh. I would have liked to win again, but the winning streak had to end sometime. I'm not losing sleep over it. This is just a course where it's hard to correct anything. I'm happy with my two weeks of training here, I've done enough."

What remains now is the World Championships in the first weekend of February in Tabor (Czech Republic). Without Van Aert, without Tom Pidcock, so a walk in the park? The world champion logically shakes his head no. "I'm certainly not assuming that the World Championship title is in the bag, that's why I've trained hard here for two weeks, to be good at the World Championships."