Mathieu van der Poel won the World Cup cyclocross in Antwerp on Saturday with almost effortless ease. Although the Dutchman felt much better than a week earlier in Namur, Van der Poel didn’t feel like the best rider in the sand. "I was definitely not the best in the sand today, I made a lot of mistakes," he said in the flash interview.
"It was a good race," Van der Poel reflects. "I felt much better than last week and my legs felt good too. During the week, I already realized I felt a lot fresher than during the race in Namur, so I’m very happy to win today."
"The plan was to quickly make the selection. Last week I was eagerly sitting on wheels, but I wanted to do my own thing. When I broke away, I quickly found my rhythm."
Flat tire
In the end, MVDP rode smoothly to victory. Even a flat tire couldn’t stop Van der Poel from still having almost a half-minute lead over second-placed Laurens Sweeck at the finish. "I felt it immediately on the rim, and there was still a long way to the second technical zone. Luckily, I had already made the selection by then."
In the coming days, we will see the world champion in action even more. Van der Poel will also start in Koksijde on Sunday and in Hofstade on Monday. "Koksijde is one of my favorite races, while Hofstade is a cyclocross I watched when I was little. So it’s nice to race there once."
