Adrie van der Poel: “Without a World Cup victory, winter Mathieu is a success, but the icing on the cake is missing”

Niels Bastiaens •
Sunday January 7, 2024 at 6:47 PM

Video Mathieu van der Poel can leave for a training camp in Spain with a ten out of ten, in other words a perfect report. Father Adrie also saw that it was good, as he told the camera after the World Cup in Zonhoven CyclingFlits.

The 64-year-old Van der Poel – who is now part of his son’s team of mechanics – no longer surprises you. “But what he is doing at the moment is special,” says Van der Poel senior. “Of course there are always points where he thinks: that could be better. He has always been someone who is critical of himself.”

“Whether this is the best Mathieu ever remains to be seen. I hope he still shows great things, but I must say: it has been a problem-free winter. I think that contributes a lot to his success. The other years there was always something going on. So nothing big, but something. I think that problem-free winter has an influence on what he is doing now,” Van der Poel outlines.

Cyclocross World Championships
At the same time, outsiders now expect Mathieu to ‘just’ win the Cyclo-Cross World Championships in Tábor within just under a month. “That will be the most difficult cross of the year. You miss Van Aert, you miss Pidcock. When those types of riders are there, you are more alert. On a certain course you also have to keep an eye on other riders. So it will be important for Mathieu to be very focused towards that World Cup.”

Does that mean that his winter without a World Cup victory was not successful? “Then the winter is a success, but you will miss the icing on the cake,” Van der Poel senior immediately responds. “Last winter it was the other way around, there was the cyclo-cross season with that one victory. It would be great if he could win the world title. If that doesn’t work, we will look into how you lost it. There are of course many possible scenarios. There are some that you have to say: it is no different. But there are also scenarios where you think: how could he have done that? That is a waste of money at the moment.”

Working on training
But first Van der Poel will have the opportunity to improve his form during a training camp in Spain. “If he continues to do what he has to do, then everything will be fine. From 80 to 95 percent is a lot easier than from 98 to 100. But I think the most important thing is to maintain the condition in the coming weeks. He doesn’t need to get better for me. Not getting sick is much more important than the rest.”

Will Van der Poel only think about the road during the internship? “His cyclo-cross season does not end today, but after the World Cup,” said Adrie. “So I think it’s important to continue doing specific cross-training. I don’t think he has spring on his mind exclusively. He knew himself, even last year, that next spring will be important again. He knows which races are important. I think that they have worked well towards this with the team in recent years, that it has gone well every time.”

“I have no doubt that if there is no illness or strange falls, everything will be fine next spring,” says Van der Poel. “Whether or not they win is a completely different story. But if you just participate conditionally, and you sit with the men you should sit with, then it is already a success. The icing is one big victory.”

Father-son contact
Mathieu spends quite a lot of time in Spain these days. Is that still difficult for Adrie? “He now also lives about half an hour from us, but we visit or have contact every day. I just let him do what he wants. It’s nice when you have contact. Every day is not necessary for me, because it will be better if you see each other after a week. Maybe we do it differently than others, we do it our way.”

Van der Poel does not think it is necessary to point out areas for improvement to his son. “Sometimes I give my opinion, but tonight I won’t see him anymore. We may bump into each other in Spain when I go for a few days. But it’s not that I necessarily want to know what he’s been up to. He is old and wise enough. He has received a lot of experience from me, also from the team. He is open to new things, I think we should take full advantage of what he already knows.”