"It means everything," the Dutchman said of his title. "It was one of the biggest goals I had left and to win it today was amazing. It almost completes my career, in my opinion.
It's maybe my biggest victory on the road." The 28-year-old attacked from a highly select quartet of contenders that included the double Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia, the former world race champion Mads Pedersen, racing for Denmark, and the former world cyclo-cross champion Wout van Aert of Belgium. Van der Poel, winner of the UCI world cyclo cross title this year, made his decisive move with 22 kilometres of the 271km race-which was held up by almost an hour in the Carron Valley because of a protest by environmental activists - remaining.
"I knew this was the hardest moment," he said of his decisive attack, "especially because we had a downhill and then a 'bump'. I noticed the race was a bit 'on the limit' but then saw nobody was following me. That gave me wings and I was flying."
This story is from the August 07, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the August 07, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
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