Van der Poel noticed little of the booing in Diegem: "The audience was great, wouldn't mind if it was always that"

He came, he saw, he conquered. Mathieu van der Poel once again demonstrated in Diegem that this cyclo-cross winter he is riding at a different level than the competition, however strong they may be. During the evening race, he rode along for a few laps, after which one acceleration proved enough to eventually solo triumphantly to victory. IDLProCycling.com was there throughout the day!

After scouting the course for a few laps in the beginning of the evening, Van der Poel made time to address the cycling press about two hours before the start of the evening cyclo-cross in Diegem. "Diegem might not be my favorite race, but the atmosphere in the dark here is always great. It's something special," the 28-year-old Alpecin-Deceuninck star reflected on what was to come.

Was Van der Poel then also intending to dominate the race in Diegem from start to finish as usual, something we have seen him do with some regularity in recent weeks? The answer to that question was negative. "It is certainly not my intention to ride in the lead from start to finish every time. I have to race again in the next two days (in Loenhout and Hulst, ed.), so it would be nice if I could save some energy. It's also a more difficult lap than on average to shake someone off."

It was a conscious choice for Van der Poel to wait and see how things unfolded

And so it was: MVDP waited a bit longer than usual to launch his decisive attack, which - as is typical for Diegem - took place in the tricky to conquer sandpit. One strong acceleration proved enough to eventually leave Tom Pidcock and Eli Iserbyt well behind and comfortably celebrate the victory. "This was just a good race," was his immediate reaction in the flash interview after the race.

After the podium ceremony, Van der Poel returned to the press to provide some extra insights about his masterful performance. The man in top form seemed to initially 'grant' his opponents some cyclo-cross time, although the Dutchman himself did not agree with that assessment. "That's too harsh on the others, because there was a lot of wind. It's difficult to ride by yourself here, so it was a conscious choice to wait and see. The sandpit is the most challenging point, where you can make the difference. It's always a decisive point here in Diegem, so that's why it was the right moment for me to strike."

Van der Poel not focused on clean sheet: Cyclo-Cross World Championships are the top priority

Five cyclo-cross participations, five victories: a 100% score for Van der Poel, who indicates that he hasn't set a specific goal of achieving the so-called 'clean sheet'. "I'm not really concerned about it. I certainly won't lose sleep if I don't win a few. The Cyclo-Cross World Championships in Tábor remain the main goal. But of course, I am just very happy with how things are going now."

Finally, in recent races, at times we noticed some booing from the audience towards Van der Poel - who, by the way, managed to win the evening cyclo-cross for the seventh time. This seemed to be the case in Diegem too, but the superstar himself debunked this. "The audience here was actually great. I thought they were very positive. If it was always like this, it would be very pleasant to race."