Business: Cycling News, Extreme conditions at World Championships shattered the prodigious Mathieu Van der Poel

Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) saw his dreams of winning the rainbow evaporate dramatically on Sunday in the elite men's road race. Headlines across the world were hastily re-written when Van der Poel was surprisingly dropped with 13km to go on the final lap of the race. The 24-year-old was quickly caught by the chasing field and finished 43rd in what was arguably the most grueling day of racing seen at a World Championships since Olso in 1993, Duitama in 1995 or Valkenburg in 1998.

Mathieu van der Poel: This is the first time that I've raced this distance in the rain. It was raining all day, it was very cold and it was a very hard race.

• "All of sudden I had no strength anymore in my legs. I don't think that I made any mistakes today. I was in the right group but all of a sudden the tank was empty."
• "It's a world championship that I'll remember for a long time. Every rider who rode it will remember it for a long time. I was in a good group and I did everything right but all of a sudden I had nothing more."
• "I felt good, it was really good and then all of a sudden it was all gone. When I let the group go I was really dizzy and empty but in the last few kilometres, I felt good again. It was really strange."

UCI Road World Championships 2019: Men's Elite RR | EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS | NBC Sports

References:

Cycling News, The lights go out for Van der Poel in dramatic fashion at World Championships, Daniel Benson, September 29, 2019.

Cycling News, World Championships: Bad weather gallery, September 29, 2019.