Cyclocross, Van Der Poel scores a hat-trick. "But I'm not satisfied"

Rome, 26 December 2024 - And they are three out of three: not even the time to open their cyclocross season after a few weeks of waiting that Mathieu van der Poel he raises his voice and scores the hat-trick, also imposing himself on givere after the successes already achieved in Zonhoven e Mol.  

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  Yet, the Dutch, at the victory number 165 in the mud, is not fully satisfied with himself and with today's performance. "I wasn't too focused and I made too many mistakes. I made a lot of mistakes and I told myself to be more on the ball". And so it was, to the displeasure of Michael Vanthourenhout e Thibau Nys, the first of the 'humans', despite their marked talent, detached from 26" e 41" and forced like their other colleagues to settle for crumbs now that the son and grandson of art has entered the scene in the winter season. Tomorrow, at Loenhout, always in Belgium, the level of competition will rise when he returns to the scene after months of absence from racing Wout van aert, who postponed his debut in cyclocross due to a seasonal illness, which in turn was preceded by the after-effects of the fall that occurred at 2024 lap. In the mud will thus return a stellar rivalry that in recent times 10 years has literally monopolized the discipline. Just think that the two, as a couple, have won 9 out of 10 World Cups (6 brought home by Van der Poel e 3 da Van Aert), with only tom pidcock, absent from cyclocross this year, to break in 2022 the monopoly.

Farewell to Hervé

  Moving on to the road, cycling is in mourning for the untimely passing of Pascal Hervé, died in 60 years due to a stomach tumor announced only in September: at the time there was talk of an operation for the complete removal of the cancer which had given hope for a good outcome of the subsequent hospitalization. Today is instead the time of grief for a runner who had his peak in 1996, when he wore the pink jersey at Giro d'Italia. After just two years the Frenchman is involved in the doping scandal of the Festina, cashing in on a suspension of 2 months in the context of what happened to the Tour de France 1998, lived as a faithful follower of Richard virenque: a script that would have repeated itself with the positivity found at Giro d'Italia 2001, in fact the swan song of his career. The farewell message is however entrusted to another teammate, Laurent Brochard. "Pascal, my friend, I am shocked. I have so many beautiful memories, but we also had many projects in common. I have no words: it is not easy to find them in these moments".

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