Watch: Mathieu van der Poel miraculously manages not to crash
How does the Dutch cyclocross star even do it?
Absolutely nothing can stop Mathieu van der Poel. On Boxing Day, that meant he could run into a course marshall full tilt and still go on to win. On New Year’s day, he displayed more magic staying upright despite taking a bump and wildly losing control of his bike. Instead of landing face first in the mud, he landed gracefully on his two feet. How does he do it? We do not have the answer for you.
Watching the replay of the save over and over again it’s hard to tell exactly what the young Dutch superstar did to maintain control of his bike. His cycling instincts were obviously very alert as he slips, slides and bumps through an undulating muddy section of the course.
When all hope looks lost with his right leg looking for solid ground on not finding it, van der Poel maneuvers himself up and over his saddle to land on his two feet. He runs his bike for a couple of steps before gracefully remounting as he rides towards the win.
His latest saves rank up there along his all-time best. In 2017, he miraculously kept things upright in the sand of Zonhoven when all hope looked lost.
While van der Poel continuously amazes cycling fans with his skill riding cyclocross, mountain bikes and road, this save ranks up there amoung his most inexplicable.
