Cyclocross, Van Der Poel scores a poker in France

Rome, 29 December 2024 – The location, the competition and the approach change, but what does not change is the result: the king of cyclocross is always him, Mathieu van der Poel, that Besançon the pokerissimo falls.

The news

The Dutchman, now a star of the mud (and not only), begins to make people talk about him well before the races. A Loenhoutin Belgium, had shown up with a Lamborghini orange, while today, in France, Van der Poel he arrived on a private flight. The flight, the real one, the son and grandson of art stands out in the race valid for the World Cup, practically put on ice already in the second of the seven scheduled laps. The rest is pure garbage time to manage the advantage, which at the finish line is 20" su Toon Aerts (almost homonymous with Wout van aert, absent today) and of 36" su Niels Vandeputte. For Van der Poel, speaking of numbers, this is how it matures victory number 42 in World Cup, as well as even the 167esima in cyclocross. "I'm happy because I managed to do what I wanted. I stayed out of trouble, as I intended to do, and even if the last laps were complicated, everything went well. Surely - continues the Dutchman to the microphones of Wielerflits - staying in front is easier because you can choose which lines to take, and maybe you get a corner wrong and on the following lap you decide to tackle it differently. It must be said though that if you get a trajectory wrong then you lose certainties and you start having doubts". Now for Van der Poel a few days of rest before returning to the race1st January for the X2O Trophies di Baal. "It's nice that the World Cup steps from the France, where there is always a large audience. A givere It was more complicated, but even today the path was tough."

Nys' statements

Between mud and road it also divides Thibau Nys, who spoke about the second area to the microphones of Spouse. "My dream is to win the Vallone Arrow and a stop at Tour de France. I know it's difficult, but I will do everything I can to succeed in this ambition, but if I don't succeed I won't consider it a failure. What is certain is that I think I haven't exploited all my capabilities. My body is still developing and I haven't pushed myself beyond my limits yet, which has to happen naturally". We return to talk about the NYS in cyclocross. "Nice, but I would have preferred to win more races than the Europeans. I don't want to look like someone who wins a competition and then disappears: I'd rather put on a show every week". It ends with the program of the 2025 on the road. "I will run the Classics in Ardennes and then maybe I'll be at the Liege-Bastone-Liege. Then I will be at my first Great Tour in my career, but I don't know which one yet because one of the three has pros and cons. The dream, obviously, would be the Tour de France". Strong ambitions that clash with the presence of some phenomena. "If there is in the race Tadej pogacar changes everything. This also applies to Van der Poel: competing against them can be frustrating, but I don't want to reproach myself for anything."