1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) 49.8km in 1 hr. 47 min. 49 sec.
2. Fabian Giger (Zwi) – 1″
3. Grant Ferguson (GBr) – 4″
4. Bartłomiej Wawak (Pol) – 9″
5. Luca Braidot (Ita) – 25″
6. Maxime Marotte (Fra) – 31″
7. Jaroslav Kulhavy (Tsj) – 35″
8. Nicola Rohrbach (Zwi) – 36″
9. José Antonio Hermida (Spa)
10. Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita)
[Editor’s note: Kulhavy was the Olympic mountain biking gold medalist in 2012 and UCI world champion in 2014; Hermida was the UCI’s Elite Men’s XCO world champion in 2010.]
MBA: What have been your best national and international results on a mountain bike?
MVDP:
• European champion XCO 2019
• World Cup XCO Nove Mesto 2019 [first place]
• World Cup XCO Val di Sole 2019 [first place]
• World Cup XCO Lenzerheide 2019 [first place]
• World Cup XCC Albstadt 2019 [first place]
• World Cup XCC Nove Mesto 2019 [first place]
• World Cup XCC Les Gets 2019 [first place]
• World Cup XCC Val di Sole 2019 [first place]
• World Cup XCC Lenzerheide 2019 [first place]
• Dutch champion XCO 2018
XCO = Cross Country
XCC = Short Track
MBA: What other sports do you enjoy besides mountain biking?
MVDP: I like motorsports; car racing and motocross.
MBA: If possible, can you tell us something interesting or unusual about yourself or your family that is not widely known.
MVDP: That I combined cycling a long time with soccer, and I was not a bad soccer player when I was young. I got the chance to playtest games at Royal Antwerp FC (first division Belgium) Belgium and Willem II (first division Netherlands). I was even part of the Talent Academy of Willem II. But in the end, I chose cycling. I preferred the individual character of winning in cycling, while in soccer you are too dependent on teammates. Of course, in cycling, you need your teammates, too!
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Mountain Bike Action is a monthly magazine devoted to all things mountain biking (yes, that’s 12 times a year because we never take a month off of mountain biking). It has been around since 1986 and we’re still having fun.