Despite his dominating victory in the World Cup round in Hulst, Mathieu van der Pol sent a stern warning to his cyclocross rivals that he is not yet at the "top level."

The 27-year-old crashed several times on the slippery Hulst course, but then forced his way to the front to take the win.

Van der Pol capitalized on a mistake by world champion Tom Pidcock to build a slight advantage midway through the race, holding a 12-second advantage until the final lap. The Dutch star got caught in the course tape twice, but held on to his lead to win the race.

Van der Pol, who recently returned to cyclocross training, warned his rivals that he is still capable of more as his technical skills improve.

"I am really happy with my form. Technically I made a lot of mistakes, but that's normal," said van der Pol, who won by 15 seconds.

"I'm just happy to be back, but I still have some work to do to be at my top level. But I still have some work to do to get to my top level.

"I need a few more cyclocross races. I'm in very good shape, I prepared well in Spain, but I need more specific training on the cross bike, and I want to be at the top level by the end of December."

"I'm still working on my training, but I still have a lot of work to do to get to my top level.

The four-time elite cyclocross world champion only raced twice last winter when back problems forced him to end his campaign early. After finishing second behind Belgian rival Wout Van Aert in Dendermonde, he abandoned in Heusden-Zolder and ended the cyclocross season without a win.

Van der Pol's last cyclocross victory came almost 22 months ago at the World Championships in Oostende, but the familiar sight of a Dutchman winning a cyclocross race returned in Hulst.

"It feels so good," Van der Pol said after his 146th elite cyclocross victory. 'It's been a long time since I've won a cyclocross race. Last year was not a good season. I can't really call it a season because I only competed in 1.5 cyclocross races due to back problems. It was a really long time in cyclocross."

Van der Pol's closest challenger was Pidcock, who had a disastrous last lap, sliding and bending his rear wheel in half before crashing into a course marker and retiring from the race.

As a result, Lawrence Sweck (Creran-Fristads) finished second, 15 seconds behind van der Pol, who was relaxed and enjoying his victory.

Eli Iserbitt (Pauwels-Sausen-Bingor) tied Van der Pol's fastest lap time of 7:59 and took third place from Lars Van der Haar (Valoise Trek Lions).

"It was good for us that we didn't lose much ground on them [Van der Pol and Pidcock] in the early laps.

"When Mathieu passed me on the first lap I thought I was going to run away with a one minute lead, I'm really happy to be 22 seconds ahead. The last two laps were really good and I hope to improve for next week."

Next week, Wout Van Aert returns to the World Cup in Antwerp, where he will face Van der Pol and Piddock for the first time this season.

Van der Pol will then head off to a road training camp before returning for the Val di Sole World Cup and Christmas cyclo-cross.