Wout van Aert was surprised by Mathieu van der Poel's acceleration and can only say one thing: "Hats off"

Wout van Aert crossed the finish line in second position in Baal on Monday afternoon. The Visma | Lease a Bike all-rounder tried to challenge world champion Mathieu van der Poel in the early stages of the X2O cyclo-cross race, but soon came to realize that his eternal rival was superior. He finished two minutes behind the winner. "To be honest, I was shocked at how far back I was," the Belgian told IDLProCycling.com afterwards.

Van Aert went into the race with high spirits on January 1st. "I had a good start and felt obliged to just give it a try. I put all the energy I had into the first two rounds to make things difficult for him. When I made a small mistake and he pushed through at that precise moment, I had to quickly find my own pace." From there, Van Aert was unable to get close to Mathieu again.

Van Aert witnessed the start of Van der Poel's one-man show

After that, Van Aert actually no longer had the expectation of getting back into the race. "If you eventually finish two minutes behind the winner, there must have been more going on than just a small mistake on my part. He was much better. In hindsight, that first mistake was the start of a one-man show." For the rest of the cyclo-cross race, Van Aert rode in second position, well behind Van der Poel.

"At one point, Mathieu pulls out an acceleration and then I have to catch my breath and find my own pace. It was the same story again," he refers to the cyclo-cross races of earlier this winter. "I was riding better in the past few races and I maybe didn't feel completely fresh today. I could easily achieve that second place, although it was still tough. I was especially surprised by that acceleration of Mathieu's. Hats off."

"Mathieu isn't the world champion for nothing, he has always been the best cyclo-crosser. A course where I am suddenly much better, they still have to invent that," Van Aert throws in one of his better one-liners.

"It's not a disappointment. I had hoped to make it more difficult for him. But well, I also know what I am doing," he referred to the preparations for the upcoming road season. After Koksijde, Van Aert will return to Spain. "I am looking forward to that, and in the meantime, a weekend of rest too. It's been quite an intensive period, with a lot of cyclo-cross races. I hope to ride a good race in Koksijde, I'm looking forward to that. I always give my best, so I'll say it again: I'm going to try again there too."