Mathieu Van der Poel 's streak of successes in cyclocross stopped short of a sensational en plein. The Dutchman had to settle for fifth place in the Benidorm test, won by his great rival Wout Van Aert . A race that has ignited even more the duel for the next specialty world championship, scheduled for Tabor , in the Czech Republic, on February 4th, but also the challenge that the two champions are ready to give each other in the season of the great cycling classics .

The Dutchman had to deal with a chain problem and then a fall in which he hit his shoulder and left knee, but he analyzed the race in a clear and objective way: “My legs no longer feel as fresh as before, the the training done in Spain was demanding - said the Dutchman after the race - and even if I didn't have bad impressions in this race, I can say that I wasn't as fresh as I was at the beginning of the season.  

I couldn't recover and Wout was difficult to recover from. I didn't win but this won't take away my sleep at night. In the end it didn't even go that bad and all in all the shoulder is fine, I will be able to continue training normally."

Van der Poel , therefore, is not too worried about the world championship: “The fact that Van Aert won this race does not mean that he will change his plans and come to race the world championship in Tabor. I just think it was an exciting race and this means that in the world championship challenge we will certainly see a race of the highest level."