Cyclocross fans have long been acquainted with Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon – Circus), and now, both mountain bike and road fans are getting to know the Dutch wunderkind rather quickly.
Van der Poel finished third at XCO Mountain Bike Worlds and this year, he has been lighting up the spring classics.
After his fourth-place finish at the Ronde van Vlaanderen, Van der Poel already had four road wins to his name, all while doing some cool bike trickster god (h/t Adam Myerson) stuff on his road bike.
Today, Van der Poel added a fifth win at the one-day Brabantse Pijl race in Belgium.
Van der Poel made the final selection of four with Strade Bianche and Milan – San Remo winner Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck – Quick Step), Tim Wellens (Lotto – Soudal) and Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb).
Van der Poel not only won the final sprint, he won it from the front position.
Incredible finish by @mathieuvdpoel who beats @alafpolak @Tim_Wellens and @blingmatthews in an elite sprint! #BP19 pic.twitter.com/ImZv2NaqW8
— De Brabantse Pijl (@DeBrabantsePijl) April 17, 2019
After the race, Van der Poel said (translated),
As I have said a few times before, I know that I am fast after a tough race. I have not been able to ride my own sprint a few times because I was sitting too long and here I was really confident. I just knew that I had to be the first to go.
