Antwerp, X2O Badkamers Trophy: Mathieu Van Der Poel and Wout van aert one in front of the other. The challenge that everyone is waiting for, as if it were the world heavyweight championshipboxing. Two months after that sprint at the Tour of Flanders that rewarded the Dutchman and didn't go down well with the Belgian. Two months may not be enough, but for Van der Poel they were an infinite time, in which a lot happened, first of all the bad fall that followed, at Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne (opening photo) which cost him a concussion and two weeks of absolute sidelines.
«I haven't fully recovered yet – he told Dutch TV Ziggo Sports – because then we found ourselves in the middle of a new lockdown, I can say that I rested a lot and have also put on a little excessive weight».
Nothing to prove
He's still a couple of kilos overweight now, and the Dutchman feels it all, but this isn't just the effect of the weeks of forced rest: «I'm approaching the cyclocross season very differently than in the past. I have to be careful not to overdo it. Mentally every time I get on my bike I would like to break the world, but I have to do it gradually. Then I have to admit that my interests have changed a bit: in cyclocross I no longer have to prove anything to anyone…».
Gregarious? Never…
In the meantime, there's today's appointment and the rest of the cyclocross season before returning to the road, always with eternal rival Van Aert in front of him.
"Wout is an attacking rider," he says, "he's a winner. I don't understand how he could have ridden the last Tour like that." putting himself at Roglic's serviceI don't know if I could do it, but until I race the Tour myself, the comparison doesn't make much sense. Our generation is changing professional cyclingThe races are more open and full of attacks, but we have always raced like this."
Remco Ambition
The Dutch champion also has something for the other great Belgian talent, Remco Evenepoel.
"Sometimes he exaggerates with his statements – he says – but it's his way of being. It may seem arrogant, but it's probably just self-confidenceHe always follows up his declarations with great feats on the pedals. I also say that I want to be the first to win three world titles in three disciplines and being an Olympian in MTB, if these aren't ambitious declarations...".
Today, we'll move from words to action: will the Dutchman be able to contain himself and leave the initiative to someone more trained? Those who know him say no, it's not in his nature...
