Mathieu van der Poel (30) was the major crowd puller on Sunday during the professional wheel round Etten-Leur. For the top cyclist, his participation was not only a fun competition for many of his fans, but above all a good training for himself. A month ago he suffered a serious pneumonia during the Tour de France.
Because of the pneumonia, Van der Poel dropped out in the last week of the Tour de France. The round in which he impressed, won a stage and wore the yellow for several days. In Etten-Leur he rode his first criterion on Sunday, in which he eventually finished third behind Primoz Roglic and Thijmen Arensman.
“Very unfortunate that I couldn’t ride the tour. It went well with me and the team. Now luckily things are going a lot better, I have had to get a while. A pneumonia is not just a cold of course.”
The competition in Etten-Leur is the only criterion where Van der Poel comes into action. He sees the competition for his own audience as a nice challenge, but also as an important part of his preparation for the rest of the season.
“I am certainly not in top form yet.”
“I am certainly not in top form. I see Etten-Leur as a good training. There is still quite a lot of driving in this technical round. I can really enjoy all those spectators. Next week I will ride the Renewi Tour to get back in shape again.”
His main goal in the short term is the World Cup mountain biking in Switzerland on 14 September. After world titles on the road and the cross, this price is at the top of its wish list. “The World Cup on Mountain Bike is a competition that I look forward to. It has been in my program for a long time, although preparation for pneumonia has changed. Hopefully it will all be good in Switzerland.”
The World Cup on the road in Rwanda on 28 September will skip Van der Poel. Because of the many height kilometers, it is not a course written on his body.