Eli Iserbyt of Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal says reigning cyclocross world champion Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) is giving him "the drive to train harder," the 22-year-old Belgian As a man, he has yet to find an answer to how Van der Poel will be beaten, but Iserbyt says defiantly that "my time will come."

Iserbyt opted to step up from the under-23 level to the elite ranks at the start of the 2019/20 cyclocross season, and soon after in the first three rounds of the World Cup series and the first round of both the DVV Trophy and Super Prestige series. He gained his foothold by winning.

However, he was no match for Van der Pol or three-time 'cross world champion Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), the latter of whom missed the first half of last winter's cyclocross season while recovering from a crash in the Tour de France.

Van der Poel likewise had a full road season and delayed his return to the cyclocross circuit to fully recover from his road efforts. He made his return at the fourth round of the Superprestige in Ruderbord, Belgium, and immediately returned to the top of the standings.

"I have asked myself how I could beat him," Iserbyt said in a Facebook Live interview in Dutch with team sponsor Shimano on Monday. No one knows what to do."

"I followed Van der Pol for a while in the European Championships," Iserbitt recalled last November in Silber, Italy.

According to Sporza.be, "But there is still a big difference between running together and running apart. 'But I'm not worried. But I'm not worried. He gives me the drive to train harder, and I can tire myself out more during training."

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Although overshadowed by the return of van der Pol and the late-season comeback of van Aert, Yzerbito, who finished the season as the overall DVV Trophy leader, may be satisfied with his first full year in the elite class.

A second cyclocross season at the top level will reveal whether Yzerbito, still only 22, has improved against 25-year-olds Van Aert and Van der Pol.

According to Het Newsblad, "In the real classics, I'm still about 15-20 kg too light. So I have to look at becoming a climber, and that's pretty tough."

The 2020 road season has been postponed until late October due to the coronavirus outbreak, and while it remains to be seen how far into the road season Van der Pol and Van Aert will get before their cyclo-cross campaigns begin, Iserbitt believes the 2020/21 'cross is likely to be affected and accepted that it will likely not start in October.

"There will also be road races in September and October, so it won't start until November.

"We have to be flexible and not whine," Iserbito added.

"We should be happy that we were able to finish last season, and hopefully we can start the new season without any problems."