The focus was not necessarily on Mathieu van der Poel's missed chance at a European jersey in newspaper articles, podcasts, and TV analyses after the European Championships last Sunday. After all, the world champion was racing all day but did so with a tighter upper body and very lean calves,

Mathieu van der Poel is doubting his chances of defending the UCI Road World Championships men’s road race title in Zurich.

She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.

Mathieu van der Poel made repeated attempts to bend the European Championships road race to his will on Sunday, but the Dutchman’s aggression was eventually snuffed out with 25km to go and the race ended in a bunch sprint.

Mathieu van der Poel, along with Mads Pedersen, was a major force at the European Cycling Championship in Belgian Limburg. However, the Dutchman’s aggressive approach did not pay off in Hasselt. His final attempt fell short with twenty kilometers to go,