Adrie van der Pol admitted that he was impressed by Wout van Aert's victory in Saturday's Boom Superprestige cyclocross, but after a long offseason enjoyed by Mathieu van der Pol, the son of the December 26 opponent is in warned that he was in shape to challenge him.

Van Aert dominated the deeply muddy Boom race, quickly pulling away from his rivals and finishing 1:42 ahead of Toon Arts (Baloise Trek) despite a late race mud fall.

His cyclocross rivals were shocked by his dominance in his first race back in the mud, but Adrie van der Poel, the 1996 cyclocross world champion and winner of the Classic, saw it coming.

"I told Toon Arts' father last week that Wout would win by a minute. It was by almost two minutes. ......"

"I'm not sure if he's going to win," he told the Belgian media after assisting his other son, David, in the boom race.

"I knew Wout was doing well because he has all his data on Strava. He was doing quite a lot of cross-training. We could predict that he would be a top performer."[9

Adley suggested that the muddy Boom course suited Van Aat's immense talent and the physiology he had developed in road racing at the World Tour level.

"As a road rider, he can go deeper on the course and has a bigger engine.

"Wout and Mathieu have more of Mother Nature than most riders. The level they achieve is no longer comparable to the level of cyclocross of a few years ago. The difference is immeasurable.

"Wout and Mathieu run major races at the top level all year round. The other crossriders only compete in small competitions in the summer. The difference is huge and will get even bigger."

Van Art will face Tom Pidcock and others in the Italian snow race Val di Sole on Sunday, while Mathieu van der Poel will return to cyclocross only in the Rucphen World Cup race in the Netherlands on December 18. The two will compete in the December The two will clash for the first time at the Dendermonde World Cup on December 26.

Van der Poel dominated the cyclocross battle with Van Aert last year, winning his fourth world title, but his father tried to temper hopes of a return during the vacations.

"I don't know how his training is going. He is very relaxed right now and has hardly run at all after a tough season. He deliberately chose to enjoy a long off-season, so we will see," Adrie van der Pol said cryptically.

"If Dendermonde's course is the same as last year, the winner is already decided: Wout. Mathieu's goal is much further away."

Mathieu Van der Pol is already on his way to the U.S., looking for his fifth world title in Fayetteville at the end of January. Van Art has not yet confirmed his entry due to his travel in Jumbo Visma. Adrie van der Pol is confident he will be on the starting line on Sunday, January 30.

"Wout will definitely participate in the World Championships. Jumbo Wisma already knows what he will do in the summer, but not in the winter. [But don't get me wrong. If Wout had to give up the World Championships because he has other goals, everyone should respect that, but I don't think the World Cyclocross Championships will harm his spring campaign."