Mathieu van der Poel is approaching his cyclocross season differently this year. His preparation is different, and the world champion from Alpecin-Deceuninck expects this to affect his race performances as well. WielerFlits asked him about the reason behind his changed training approach.
"Last year I was a bit further along. Back then, I had trained more specifically; this year we planned that a bit later," Van der Poel said immediately after the finish during the flash interview. WielerFlits later asked him what exactly was different about that. Was it a conscious choice?
"Yes, definitely. Last year, I felt I was a bit too good too quickly. Both in training and in the first races, I also mentioned this year that the build-up could be a bit more gradual, because last year I felt I hadn’t improved much by the time of the World Championships," Van der Poel then explained to us.
The team leader of Alpecin-Deceuninck knows there’s still room for improvement this winter. "Especially the effort needs to get better, I think the technical side will come automatically. I have focused less on specific intervals during training, and I can feel that."
Mathieu van der Poel
