Mathieu van der Poel: I was not good enough

Mathieu van der Poel
(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

Mathieu van der Poel's 408-day cyclo-cross winning streak came to an end at the DVV Verzekeringen trofee Hotondcross in Ronse on Saturday. The reigning world champion was beaten by more than two minutes and finished in third place behind the day's winner Belgian champion Toon Aerts (Telenet-Baloise Lions) and runner-up Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal).

"I was not good enough," Van der Poel told Wielerflits after the race. "I always go for the win, but you can't win them all. Toon Aerts was very strong today. He always shows up very well on this kind of courses."

Kirsten Frattini
Deputy Editor

Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.

Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.

She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.