Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel went into the 2018 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Valkenburg, Netherlands, as the overwhelming favourite to win the rainbow jersey but the sport has yet again shown that it doesn't play favourites.
The victory went to Belgium's Wout van Aert for a third consecutive year. His compatriot Michael Vanthourenhout took the silver medal. Van der Poel finished with bronze.
Van der Poel, who won the world title in 2015, amassed 26 dominating victories and won the overall title of the World Cup series, the DVV Verzekeringen Trofee, the European Championships, and he is leading the Superprestige series.
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But his performance in Valkenburg was almost unrecognisable as he fought his hardest to barely grasp a place on the podium. It was all he could do to bring the Netherlands a bronze medal in the championship race.
"I didn't make many mistakes," van der Poel said in an post-race interview with Sporza. "Wout was far above the others today. Mentally, it's very difficult to come here with the goal of becoming world champion and in the second lap you already realize that it's not going to happen. It was mentally hard.
"The crowd - which was a real good crowd - pulled me through the difficult moments today," van der Poel said of the fans at his home event.
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