Mathieu Van Der Pol accidentally dyed his hair blonde in preparation for his cyclocross debut. It was his partner Roxanne Bertels who sprayed his normally dark-colored hair.

Alpecin Deceuninck had previously appeared in a promotional video for Alpecin shampoo, but when he joined Matt Stevens in an Instagram video during a Zwift Academy event in Spain, his new strawberry blonde look, he could only joke about it.

"My girlfriend sprayed the wrong ...... I'm blonde now. You get used to it. Van der Pol was asked by Stephens about his new hair color and took part in the latest review of the hotel's hair dryer.

Van der Paul is in Spain training for the cyclocross season. He will race his first race at the UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Hulst on November 27. After that, he will race hard over the vacations and then head to the World Cyclocross Championships in Hoogerheide, the Netherlands, on February 5.

Van der Poel will clash with Tom Pidcock in Hulst, while main rival Wout van Aert has opted to avoid a showdown in his cyclocross debut and will ride the X2O Trofee Kortrijk-Urban Cross on Saturday, November 26.

The first three-way battle between cyclocross' big three and specialist rivals is expected to occur either at the Antwerp World Cup on December 4 or a week later at the new Dublin World Cup race.

Van der Pol has been training in Spain for some time, riding with various teammates, including gravel world champion Gianni Vermersch, and recovering his strength from rest. He is also participating in the finals of the Zwift Academy, where the winner will be awarded the right to join Alpecin Deceuninck's development team.

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