Mathieu van der Poel ‘scared’ in Val di Sole snow and ice reveals father Adrie

Mathieu van der Poel in action at the 2022 Val di Sole cyclocross World Cup
Mathieu van der Poel in action at the 2022 Val di Sole cyclocross World Cup (Image credit: Getty Images)

The father of Mathieu van der Poel has suggested that his son struggled in the snow at the Val di Sole cyclocross race on Saturday because he was scared of crashing and keen to avoid injury so close to the packed holiday season of racing. 

Mathieu Van der Poel was the star of the Italian race, travelling to the Val di Sole race from an Alpecin-Deceuninck training camp in Spain to compete in the latest round of the World Cup. 

Stephen Farrand
Head of News

Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.