Mathieu van der Poel will be looking for a hat trick at the European Cyclocross Championships in Italy on Sunday.

The Corendon-Circus man heads to the UEC European Cyclocross Championships with a win in his return to the discipline. Van der Pol won the fourth round of the Superprestige Series in Rudervoorde by 23 seconds over Laurens Sweck.

Young riders Eli Iserbitt and Tom Pidcock, who had battled for the win in the Koppenberg Cross two days earlier, finished fifth and sixth, but Van der Pol still has his eye on them and sees a lot of work ahead.

"Before Luderbold, I said I had high hopes for Eli Iserbitt and Tom Pidcock. They both missed the podium last Sunday, but they must have felt Koppenberg's awesomeness."

"Both riders are already showing good form and like to race hard. Besides them, I would also look at riders like Toon Arts and Lawrence Sweck, but it will depend a lot on the course conditions and weather."

"I am excited and motivated to win my third European title.

The Dutchman missed the early part of the cyclocross season, missing the Superprestige and the opening three rounds of the UCI World Cup, as well as the opening round of the DVV Trophy and the Koppenberg Cross.

The rest period came after a long stretch of winning road races, including the Amstel Gold Race in the spring, and competing on mountain bikes in the summer. He was dominant at the Tour of Britain and rode strong at the UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire.

However, he was not sad to watch the early part of the cyclocross season from the sidelines and insisted that everything was planned to get back to the top level.

"Was it hard to watch the early season games on TV?

"After a hard few months of combined road and cross-country racing, I really needed a break.

"Of course I am really happy to be back in cyclocross, but it wasn't hard to watch the races. Now I am fully focused on my cyclocross season with the World Championships as my main goal."

The European Championships are something of a side event, but van der Pol enters Sunday's race as the overwhelming favorite to win, despite his lack of knowledge about the thick mud and challenging course.

"I've never been to Silber or the course," he said. I don't talk much with my father [former pro Adri-Ed] about the old days. But if my father knew something important about the race course on Sunday, of course he would tell me."