Minutes after winning the Antwerp round of the World Cup, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) said he will need to keep raising his game if he is to be certain of beating archrival Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) in their future cyclocross encounters.
In just his third cyclocross race this year, Van der Poel proved too strong for his competitors, attacking on the second lap and extending his margin until the final lap to take a faultless victory by 23 seconds.
The 27-year-old showed no visible signs of suffering despite damaging his knee during a heavy fall less than 24 hours earlier at the Superprestige Boom.
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“It still needs to be better in the future because Wout will also get better,” Van der Poel said.
“Wout was immediately fairly strong for his first 'cross, and he will also improve towards Christmas. I think there’s going to be a few really nice races in a busy period.”
Despite showing his dominant form in the cyclocross field, Van der Poel is now heading to Spain to join his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammates for a road training camp.
The Dutch star will return in under two weeks’ time for the Italian World Cup round at Val di Sole, which is expected to take place on snow, before commencing a busy festive calendar and then preparing for the World Championships.
He added: “It’s a pity that I leave for Spain tomorrow as I’m just getting the feeling back, but a few weeks of training in the sun and I’ll be back for a busy period.
"I also want to have a good basis for the spring, which is still the most important thing for me. So we stick to the schedule."
Van der Poel and Van Aert are both targeting the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, which take place in Hoogerheide on February 5.
The Alpecin–Deceuninck rider will be bidding for his fifth elite rainbow jersey title, with the added importance of the event being on home soil.
Unbust by crash in Boom
Despite crashing and eventually finishing over three minutes behind at Superprestige Boom on Saturday, Van der Poel said he felt strong and carried that form into Antwerp.
“I felt pretty OK after yesterday,” said Van der Poel after following up his World Cup win at Hulst last weekend with a second victory.
“I was a bit sore, but it didn’t bother me too much during the race. There were no mistakes that I recall, which is a good thing. I was able to get a good gap and maintain it, so I’m pretty happy with today.
“It’s only my third race, yesterday, I crashed after a lap, but I was really strong as well. Antwerpen is a race that I really like, and I think today I found it technically pretty OK.”