He’s coming, he’s coming! Mathieu van der Poel is making his return to cyclocross today for the first time since winning the world title in Liévin. The world champion often races to the cross in a fast sports car, but for the Namur cyclocross, Van der Poel kept things rather low-key.
This time, Van der Poel didn’t opt for a flashy Lamborghini as his mode of transport, but rather a black minibus with his own personalized license plate: MVDP. Once he arrived at the Citadel of Namur, the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider took his time to hand out autographs and selfies.
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In the run-up to his cyclocross comeback in Namur, Van der Poel still went all out. On Instagram, the seven-time world champion shared a video where he switches shoes in his yellow Lamborghini (with a Christmas tree on the roof, referring to the upcoming holiday season) before speeding off. The caption read, “Time to go offroad again.”
After a longer break than he’s used to, the urge returned for Mathieu van der Poel. The 30-year-old rider is eager to dive back into cyclocross in Namur today. “I really do enjoy training, but it’s true that I missed the competition. I’m really looking forward to getting back to the field a week earlier than last year,” he said in a press release from his team Alpecin-Deceuninck.
“It’s been a long time since I raced in Namur. And I think it’s a great course. I feel ready,” said the world champion. “Expectations may be high, and I set them high myself. Although personally, I think I’m a percent or so below last year’s level at the moment. But I think it should be enough to immediately compete for the win.”
[cf_rider_schedule rider="mathieu-van-der-poel"
