The revelation of opening Superprestige series event, Matthieu van der Poel, entered Sunday’s cyclo-cross World Cup held in Valkenburg with high expectations, but never managed to live up to them. Being openly disappointed with his last performance, the 19-year old Dutchman looks forward to recharging his batteries next weekend without any competition on schedule.

The young rider couldn’t hide his disappointment after riding poorly in the World cup held in Valkenburg last weekend, but nonetheless remained willing to share his thoughts with the press.

“Vanthournhout immediately set a high pace what was favourable for me but I made several mistakes on the technical strips shortly afterwards. Generally, errors indicate that you’re riding at your limit what certainly was a case. I had a bad day because of heavy trainings I had had in the preceding week and it was quite warm. Most likely, the combination of those factors took its toll,” Van der Poel said, according to cyclingonline.nl.

“Actually, I’ve never managed to find my rhythm while everything went really smoothly at trainings last week. Who knows, maybe I approached the race a little too enthusiastic, so in the and it was disappointing.”

“My next race is Zanhoven in two weeks, where I’m going to defend my lead in Superprestige. That weekend without cyclo-cross might be good for me,” the 19-year old concluded.