Even with Van der Poel, something can go too fast; world champion has indicated he wants a different approach for cyclocross winter

Mathieu van der Poel "just won" again on his return to cyclocross. In the World Cup in Namen, he was the best, but it had to come from his toes. Not only were his competitors ironclad, but the world champion was also his own worst enemy. But even a nasty crash could not keep him from victory.

Thus, the Dutchman from Alpecin-Deceuninck grabbed his sixth victory in the Citadelcross. After a great opening phase, where he quickly joined the best, he waited a long time to make his move. After a crash by a rock-solid Thibau Nys, he was finally able to make the difference. 'It's always difficult here, on this course,' Van der Poel said in the flash interview. 'But in the end I'm glad I was able to win.'

He was not very clean: during the race the seven-time world champion made quite a few mistakes. In the beginning of the race he even had to pay for it with a big crash. "I made too many mistakes," the winner realized. 'In the end I only managed to ride my best technical piece in the last half lap. I'm glad I was able to finish.'

Where many fans had expected Van der Poel to move on immediately after joining the leaders, he decided to wait. Indeed, his competitors proved much stronger than expected. In particular, Belgian champion and World Cup leader Nys often led up the pace, and he was also able to keep up when Van der Poel himself accelerated.

'Not only him, I also think Michael Vanthourenhout and Lars van der Haar were very strong,' Van der Poel said of the numbers three and four in the race. As a result, he had to change tactics. 'I made the decision early on to wait until the end of the race to make my move. In the end, I felt pretty good.'

The good feeling took Van der Poel to the final, where he received anything but victory as a gift from the opposition. But the Dutchman had already expected that beforehand, he told IDLProCycling and others afterwards. I knew beforehand that it would take a lot of effort for me to win today. But happy that I eventually pulled out the longest.'

After the opening stage, Van der Poel quickly managed to position himself at the front and maintain his position. 'I did feel like I was in control, but at the end of the day nothing should go wrong to win that race.' But for MVDP this did not remain, who did not hurt too badly in his crash. 'A small technical error,' the protagonist calls it himself.

Still, the multiple winner on the road and in the field is satisfied except for those few mistakes. 'I think it was pretty okay for a first cross on such a course. Of course I made a few mistakes here and there, but it certainly wasn't bad," said the world champion in his rainbow jersey.

Yet the technical aspect is not immediately what Van der Poel will have to work on, he himself explains. 'Especially the effort. I think that technical will come naturally. But what I indicated beforehand, compared to last year, we have focused a lot less on those specific intervals, and I do notice that.'

And there was a clear reason for that, Van der Poel indicated after his podium ceremony. 'I had the feeling last year that I was just a little too good too fast, both in training and in the first crosses. So I had indicated this year that the build-up could be a little calmer, because last year I felt I wasn't improving much anymore.'

On the next weekend, Van der Poel will face his great rival in his second cross this winter: Wout van Aert. The Belgian and Dutchman will both be at the start of the Antwerp World Cup then. 'Nice to have him there; he will also be fine, like every year.'