At the finish of the Heusden-Zolder cyclo-cross World Cup, Mathieu van der Poel (Beobank - Corendon) blamed his unfortunate start on an unidentified runner. The incident happened in the first corner where the former world champion broke his shoe, forcing him to ride as well as possible with a damaged shoe before a new one was finally available. It now seems that the person targeted by van der Poel is Michael Vanthourenhout (Marlux - Napoleon Games). However, the Belgian defends himself.

At the finish in Heusden-Zolder, Mathieu van der Poel was very unhappy.

"It does not make me laugh. I will not give names but I know who it is and I will remember." 

Het Nieuwsblad has looked at the images and even though they don’t show everything, van der Poel gives Vanthourenhout a pat which raises suspicions that the Belgian rider is the one to have made van der Poel angry. Questioned by Het Nieuwsblad, he replied: "I do not even know what you are talking about.” He also refuses that van der Poel talked to him. In the evening, the 2015 U23 World Champion tweeted: "Am I still allowed to defend my place? Where should I wait for space to open up?”

Vanthourenhout finished sixth in the race. He is the only rider apart from Mathieu van der Poel to have beaten Wout Van Aert (Crelan - Vastgoedservice) this season. It happened at the Polderscross which does not count for any series. 

Vanthourenhout has just renewed his contract with Marlux - Napoleon Games until 2021.