Mathieu van der Poel did not have a good day at the mountain bike world championships on Sunday. The 2019 European Champion Has Been Missing Top Form for Week and Therefore Finished only 29th in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.
After at least, Van der Poel Seemed to Be Able to Dream of a Unique World Title in Mountain Biking. The Thirty-Year-Old Dutchman Climbed from 33rd to Fourth Place After The Start, But then His Advance Stalled. In The Second Half of the Race, Hey Fell Far Behind.
“It clearly was my day,” Van der Poel Told the Nos After the Race. “I have no apologies. I don’t feel like I blew myself up at the beginning of the race. The start was actual a dream scenario, everything worked out. But I just had very bad legs.”
The Mountain Bike World Championships was The Last Major Goal of A Long (Road) Season For van der Poel. In The Spring, he won Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix, and in the Summer He Colored the Tour de France with a Stage Win, Among Other Things. He had to leave the French tour due to pneumonia and has not leg 100 percent since.
“I harbor feeling great for a while,” Says van der Poel. “That pneumonia shouldernn’t play a role anymore, but the fact is that I’m not as resilient in training as normal.”
Van der Poel Continues Mountain Biking
Van der Poel did not find it easy to be overtaken by one rider after another in the last hour or the cross-country race on Sunday. “Mentally it was a long race,” he says. “Fortunately, Mountain Biking is the only discipline where I Still Enjoy Riding around a bit with bad legs. I tried to enjoy it.”
Pleasure is the most important reason Why van der Poel Continues Mountain Biking. Even after a series of bad experiences in the few competitions he participated in this decade. “Or course, it remains my dream to one day mountain bike world champion. I still have a few years to go. We keep trying. I hope to be at the start of the world championships again year.”
Van der Poel Will not be in action anymore this season. He Will Skip the European Road Championships (On October 5 in France) and the Gravel World Championships (On October 12 in South Limburg). “I’m going to put my bike aside for a while and rest.”
