Mathieu Van Der Poel showed his great versatility when he added a junior Worlds title on the road to the two he already had in cyclo-cross. Despite the triumph, the young Dutchman plans to concentrate on the winter discipline in the future.

Mathieu Van Der Poel has long been known as being completely dominant on the junior cyclo-cross scene where he has been virtually unbeatable in the past seasons. Two junior Worlds titles are testament to his superiority and he has fully lived up to the exploits of his father Adrie who is a former elite world champion.

His father was much more than a cyclo-cross rider as he also excelled on the road. With wins in Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Tour of Flanders and Amstel Gold Race, he was one of the great classics riders of his generation.

Today Mathieu showed the same kind of versatility when he won the junior world championships in solo fashion. He attacked on his own to bridge across to lone leader Franck Bonnamour before dropping his companion on the steep Via Salvati climb. He held off his chasers all the way to the finish and copied the exploits of Matej Mohoric in yesterday's U23 race by taking a solo win.

" I felt it was the moment to go on the climb because Bonnamour was in front," he told on the post-race press conference. "We rode as hard as we could to the last climb and then I just kept going to the finish line."

The win was a surprise to some as Van Der Poel hadn't shown great condition in Tuesday's time trial. On that occasion he was hampered by health issues that had luckily been resolved for today's race.

"In the time trial it was especially my back that hurt a lot," he said. "My back has become better today but the leg is still a problem. I won races last week with that leg so I knew that it was possible. My leg wasn't good at all in the time trial. I was glad that it was better now."

With his grandfather being French legend Raymond Poulidor, Van Der Poel has plenty of cycling knowledge in his family. His father had advised him to stay calm despite the many attacks that were launched in the early part of the race.

"The advice was to wait for the end because the race was very hard," he said. "We saw that the Frenchmen were going hard to get to the front with their favourite Gesbert but it was Bonnamour who attacked. I was glad that the Frenchmen did the job."

"Normally I would go earlier but the race was 140km and that's quite a distance for junior men. It was tougher than usual."

Van Der Poel made use of his cyclo-cross skills when he sped down one of the descent to get across to the lone leader.

"The technical descent was an advantage for me," he said. "I got to the Frenchman on the descent. I liked the descent because it was technical and not too fast. You had to make good turns. I think the course was hard enough and I think the descent made it tougher because it wasn't straight and long. You had to pedal."

Asked to compare today's title with his cyclo-cross wins, he couldn't make up his mind.

"This is a very special for me but my cyclocross titles also mean a lot to me," he said. "It's hard to compare but this one is really nice because it is my first international title on the road. We didn't do the European championships with our team so this was the main goal."

Van Der Poels recently signed a four-year contract with BKCP Powerplus and is expected to focus on cyclo-cross in the near future. Today's win doesn't change his priorites.

"For the next years I have a contract with BKCP for the cyclo-cross season so that's the main goal," he said. "After that we will see. Now it is especially cyclo-cross that interests me so that's the main goal for me."

"I enjoy cyclo-cross more than road races but I will ride on the road next year as well because our team has a nice program with international races."

Van Der Poels isn't the only rider who has excelled both on the road and in cyclo-cross. Riders like Lars Boom and Zdenek Stybar have both obtained their first results in the winter discipline before going on to perform well on the road.

"Of course [they inspire me]," he said. "It shows that I have plenty of time to make the change. I don't have to decide right now."

For now, Van Der Poel will enjoy today's win before turning his attention to another - probably successful - cyclo-cross season.