Mathieu van der Poel finished in a dramatic 29th place on Sunday during the World Mountainbike World Cup in Switzerland. Reigning world champion from South Africa Alan Hathererly rode almost the entire game in the lead, Van der Poel fell further and further away.
“I didn’t have my day,” Van der Poel concluded after the race. “I have not been feeling well for a while.”
Van der Poel no longer comes into action for the rest of the road season and also skips the World Cup Gravel in South Limburg. At the end of December he only expects to race again in the field. “I put the bike aside and rest.”
Fourth attempt
Van der Poel already won a world title on the road and is seven -time cyclocross world champion. Almost a year ago, in October, the world title on Gravel followed.
For Van der Poel it was his fourth attempt on global success on mountain bike. In 2018 he took bronze at the World Cup in Lenzerheide. After that, success did not happen. In 2021, Van der Poel fell in the Olympic race and the same thing happened at the 2023 World Cup in Glasgow, after which he stopped the fight.
Fast behind
On the course in Crans-Montana in Switzerland, he soon looked at the back of the world champion. At first he was able to follow a third place, but he did not last long. He finished more than five minutes after the South African ..
Van der Poel trained daily on the course in Switzerland last week. This was not only a physical training but also a tactical one. “I’m looking for the ideal lines to go as quickly as possible,” he said in the run -up to the World Cup.
The Italian Simone Avondetto sprinted to the silver for 48 seconds after winner Hathererly, just before the Frenchman Victor Koretzky.