Wout van Aert laughs it off: “Almost silly to say, but Mathieu van der Poel was less dominant”

"I can’t share a clear plan now. It might be a tough start and I’ll only reach form around Flanders and Roubaix. Maybe everything goes very favorably and I can stick to my plan. Maybe it all falls apart. We'll see."

Van Aert found it "mentally very disappointing" that his cyclocross winter ended prematurely. "I was still looking forward to what was coming. As I said, I felt I was still left a bit hungry. That was tough for me. But the fact that I was able to get back on the bike relatively quickly has helped me look forward again. Spring is coming, so I’m focused on recovering as best as possible every day. Focusing on those things is always better than looking back."

Less dominant Mathieu van der Poel
What has Van Aert learned from the past cyclocross season, for example regarding his rival Mathieu van der Poel? "I found him different, less dominant than last year, despite winning almost every race. It’s almost silly to say," laughs the Belgian. "But you could see he sometimes raced more with his head."

"I also know I wasn’t at my top level, and that wasn’t the plan at all. But like in Mol, I was still close to his level. In that respect, we had a more comparable approach than other years, when he really focused on being at his peak. But as I started answering: he was naturally super strong and left us all behind every time."