Sean Kelly is one of the greatest cyclists of all time and nowadays is one of the most respected analysts in the sport. He’s in the unique position of having commentated on Mathieu van der Poel after having raced against his father Adrie; he also competed against both Roger and Eric de Vlaeminck during the early part of his career.
Sean, Mathieu van der Poel has just set new records in terms of world championship victories and World Cup wins. What are your thoughts of him as a cyclocross rider? What can you say? He is an extraordinary bike rider on all terrain. A huge, huge talent. You can see the way he has dominated cyclocross racing. Two races before the world championships, he had two punctures [in the Maasmechelen World Cup]. He rode half a lap on a flat to get to the pits and he was going almost as fast as the other guys. That shows the power he has, and the bike handling that he has as well. Then he got the second puncture. He was, I think, 30 seconds down or so on the leaders, but he came back to them. He had a little bit of respite and then just hit them again, went away and won solo. When you see what he was able to do after the punctures, it just shows how far he is ahead of everybody.
In the days after the race Roger De Vlaeminck denied suggestions that van der Poel is better than his brother Eric. But do you think it is fair to say van der Poel is indeed the best ’cross racer ever? Yes, by far. Roger De Vlaeminck is always moaning about the road races, Paris–Roubaix’s and that, and he is moaning about the cyclocross now. Eric De Vlaeminck was a brilliant cyclocross rider at the time, but now I think the talent you have in cyclocross…. It is a sport that has really grown and is really popular, although in Eric De Vlaeminck’s time it was really popular in Belgium as well. But while you can’t compare levels with different generations, I think the level is really high now. Van der Poel is just untouchable.
FULL INTERVIEW IN PRINT
