All eyes were on Mathieu van der Poel’s return to cyclocross in Namur with a victory but his performance itself fell short of his own standards.
“I tried to wait and see how things developed, but I made too many mistakes in the wheels. Sometimes it’s easier to ride on the front. It was certainly not the easiest circuit to open my winter on.”
-Mathieu van der Poel
Thibau Nys started the final lap in contention with Van der Poel, Vanthourenhout and Van der Haar. But then the decisive moment arrived…
“I still had an explosion left in my legs and was riding at the front, well positioned. Then I made a small and stupid mistake and that cost me a lot of seconds. I dropped back to fourth place and I still had power, but Mathieu had already flown…
That is a shame, but I can only blame myself. I had the feeling that I was in control. With Mathieu back in the race there is a big factor of unpredictability, but during the race it felt like I was in control. But there was power there, and when Mathieu went, I could stay on the wheel. I wanted to produce another explosion in the finale, but I did not get to that point.”
-Thibau Nys
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