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Mathieu van der Poel won his sixth cyclocross world title in Tabor, but admitted it could be his last as his road races take priority and even more importance.
Van der Poel is now just one world title away from Erik De Vlaeminck’s record seven world championships, but that seems of little importance to him.
“Apart from the world title and the fun, I don’t have much left to win in cyclocross. My attention is increasingly focused on the road,” van der Poel explained in interviews after his victory in Tabor.
Van der Poel, 29, is now the undisputed king of elite men’s cyclocross, but he cannot decide his future in this discipline alone. He runs the Alpecin-Deceuninck team, which gets a lot of publicity for its success in cyclocross, and also earns significant upfront fees.
Any final decision to miss the 2024/2025 cyclocross season includes a number of factors and impacts individuals. It would also reduce interest in winter discipline.
“It’s a decision that I obviously can’t make alone. But we will discuss it within the team,” said Van der Poel, explaining the main reason for any decision to hang up his cyclocross bike.
“Winter cross country is something that requires a lot of energy,” he said. “If it turns out I can perform even better on the road by skipping cyclocross, then I’ll do it.”
Van der Poel will soon turn his attention to the 2024 road racing season, but a final decision on his future in cyclocross will take much longer.
“In two weeks we will know more about my road program, but not yet about next winter,” he laughs, putting off any expectations.
Van der Poel enjoyed a perfect race at Tabor. He immediately took the lead and pulled away from the field to win by 37 seconds.
He completed a near-perfect cyclocross campaign with 13 wins in 14 races. His only defeat came in the Benidorm World Cup after hitting a post at speed and he wanted to finish on top.
“It would have been a shame to miss out on the world title after a season like that. But there is still a race to run and the top seed often hasn’t won,” he said.
“But I had good legs. I think I mainly rode very controlled and never took many risks. I got rocks thrown at me in a lot of places, I tried to take those sections as carefully as possible and kept going where I could.”
At the finish line, Van der Poel got off his bike and pointed to his Canyon bike.
“That the bike did a good job, which is crucial in a cyclocross,” he concluded.