Mathieu van der Poel has celebrated his first cyclocross win for a long time by changing out of his racing kit, sticking on his trainers and going for a run immediately after his World Cup victory in Hulst today.
He has posted his run on Strava, below, and moved along a very decent clip despite the effort he had just put in on the bike to come from way down the field at the start and clinch a solo victory.
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The 27-year-old old ran 4.36 miles, or 7.03km, in a time of 26:56, averaging 3:50km pace. He is among a growing number of pro riders to combine running and cycling, including on race day.
Primož Roglič (Jumbo Visma) is an avid runner and has been known to go for 6am runs on race days, including at the Tour de France this year. The now retired former pro cyclist, Tom Dumoulin, ran the Maastricht 10km in 32:38 las November.
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Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) created a stir last year when he posted his time for a 5km run - 13:25. However, that time was a little bit too good - being a world class time - and it soon emerged it was down to a GPS error. Michael Woods of Israel Premier Tech was a runner before coming to cycling relatively late and ran a sub four-minute mile in his day.
Today in Hulst, Van der Poel was delighted to take the victory, especially after he got to ride just two cyclocross races last season before his back injury forced him onto the sidelines. Due to the fact he had not raced cyclocross for so long, he was gridded down the field.
However, he soon forced his way to the front and with about two laps remaining he edged clear of his rivals, including world champion Pidcock, who had pulled clear early with Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Fristads).
As Van der Poel rode away on his own to win, Pidcock suffered a broken rear wheel rim, as he was in 2nd position, and that ended his challenge. Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won by 15 seconds from Sweek with Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen Bingoal) 3rd at 22 seconds and Pidcock a non-finisher.
Mathieu ran der Poel
