"I haven't been feeling well for a while": Van der Poel admits his slump at the World Championships

Mathieu van der Poel was one of the favorites for the medals at the XCO World Championship in Crans Montana and at first it seemed like he would be fighting for them. But the Dutchman started to sink quickly in the classification and ended up 29th, far from what was expected.

Van der Poel deflated quickly at the XCO World Championship

"I had a bad day," he admitted after the race to the NOS media microphones. "The start was a dream scenario, but I simply had a terrible day. I didn't feel like I had blown myself up, but it wasn't a good day. There are no excuses. For some time now I haven't been feeling one hundred percent, in training I notice that I don't tolerate the load as well as before."

In addition, Van der Poel admitted that he quickly changed his goal in this World Championship and took it as a psychological challenge: "It was a long race mentally, but mountain biking is the only discipline in which, even when you're doing badly, you still enjoy going around. I had very bad legs, but I tried to enjoy it. Quitting wouldn't have changed anything and I was already here, so I tried to take something positive out of it."

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Despite the stumble, the Dutchman assures that he will continue to pursue the only major title missing from his record. "Of course I still dream of the rainbow jersey in MTB. I have a few years ahead of me and we will keep trying. Hopefully I can be in Val di Sole next year."