Mathieu van der Poel 'phenomenal' in World Championships road race win, result will 'hurt' Wout van Aert - reaction

ByJames Walker-Roberts

Published 06/08/2023 at 16:59 GMT

Mathieu van der Poel proved a class above as he won gold in the men’s road race at the Cycling World Championships in Glasgow. Van der Poel finished well clear of second-placed Wout van Aert. Eurosport experts Adam Blythe and Dan Lloyd were impressed with Van der Poel and also reflected on his rivalry with Van Aert and how that has changed this year.

Adam Blythe says Mathieu van der Poel is “in another league” following his “phenomenal” victory in the men’s road race at the Cycling World Championships.

Van der Poel roared away from his rivals with 23km to go on the Glasgow circuit and couldn’t be caught.

He opened up such a big gap that he even recovered from a fall and wasn’t challenged on his way to the finish line.

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“He played it perfectly tactically,” said Eurosport expert Blythe in the post-race studio discussion.

“He just kept riding away and that was it. Nothing anybody could do about it. He was in another league.

“His ability to really hurt himself more than others; he just seems to be able to go into the red, then into the dark, then into the darkness and still come out and go again. He is just phenomenal.”

Van der Poel was already celebrating by the time Wout van Aert took second place.

Van der Poel and Van Aert have raced against each other in cyclocross and road events since they were youngsters.

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Blythe thinks this result will “hurt” Van Aert, who also lost out to Van der Poel at the Cyclo-cross World Championships earlier this year.

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“They have grown up racing together and have been arch nemeses since so young, so watching him ride away and being able to do nothing about it will hurt Van Aert and might change what he does next year.

“I think with the Tour de France this year not being as successful as last year, Van Aert might decide next year to be more one-day Wout. He might get more success from that.

“I think with Van Aert one of his main focuses at the Tour de France is being a team-mate and that really changes the way he trains and performs as a one day rider.

“He has the big engine to be able to sit at that high number of watts, but to be able to do what Van der Poel does, he can do it but not as well.”

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Eurosport expert Dan Lloyd also agreed that Van der Poel is starting pull away from Van Aert in terms of his career accomplishments.

“I wonder what was going through Van Aert’s mind when the gap started to open up,” he said.

“We all know the history between those two riders for so many years they have been up against each other but in recent times especially Van der Poel seems to get it right and Van Aert is not quite there.

“There is starting to be a chasm between the palmares of those two riders when it comes to the one-day races.”

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Stream the cycling World Championships live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com

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