‘Rusty’ Van der Poel after Namur win: 'I was making a bit too many mistakes'

Ahead of his return, Van der Poel revealed that he had barely spent any time on a cyclocross bike. Asked how many dedicated cross sessions he had done, he replied: “Two. One on Tuesday and one yesterday, Thursday. That is not much, but it was the same last year, and in the end, it proved enough.”

Nevertheless, he was confident about his performance in Namur. “The expectations can be high, I set them high myself. Although personally I think that right now I am one little percent less than last year, I think it should be enough to immediately fight for the win.”

During the race, that slight lack of specific preparation showed at times. Van der Poel hit the deck in a technical section, then quickly fought his way back into contention. 

Explaining what happened afterwards, he said: “Yeah, it was just in the wheels. I was making a bit too many mistakes. I think in the end, when I went to the front, the half last lap was maybe my best technical part of the race. But yeah, happy to get the job done.”

In the finale he timed his move rather than forcing the pace early. “I made an early decision to wait until the end of the race to make my move, and I felt good in the end,” he said, while also crediting the strength around him: “Yeah, not only him. I think also Vanthourenhout and Lars van der Haar were quite strong.”

Despite the stumbles, Van der Poel was satisfied with the comeback win. “Yeah, it’s always hard on this course, but in the end I’m happy to take the win.” 

He also underlined that the slightly less sharp feeling matched what he had said beforehand about his build up. “It wasn’t really a surprise. Like I said before, I think last year I was just a little bit further and did a bit more specific training. This year we planned that a bit later.”

Van der Poel’s next start is this Saturday at the UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Antwerp. In the days that follow, he is set to race in Koksijde and the Hofstade Plage Cross. In Antwerp and at the Hofstade Plage Cross, we can look forward to a showdown with Wout van Aert.