After starting from the back of the grid to win the UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Hulst on Sunday, Mathieu van der Pol took it for granted as an endurance athlete.

Van der Pol posted a file on Strava titled "Tempo celebration run," in which he ran 7 km at a pace of 3:50 per km.

Currently, this pace is far from the world record, which was set by Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda in Monaco in 2020 at 2:34 per km. Still, it is a pace well within reach of the top amateur runners, which is remarkable considering that Van der Pol seems to run only occasionally.

During a training camp in Spain in early November, Van der Pol completed several short runs, averaging over 4 minutes per kilometer.

Van der Pol's runs were also not as fast as Tom Pidcock's infamous 2021 5k run. His time of 13:25 was later attributed to what was thought to be a Garmin glitch.

Pidcock may still be the fastest of the "big three" male cyclocross racers, beating Wout Van Aert by 2 minutes and Van Der Pol by 1 minute on Strava's estimated best 5km run, but the broken wheel he suffered in Hulst and the Ovelaise may need that skill if his mechanical good luck continues, as he suffered a broken shoe and jammed gears in [Eliud Kipchoge set a marathon record in Berlin in September (2 hours, 1 minute, 9 seconds) when he ran 2:52. Eliud Kipchoge clocked 2:52 when he set the marathon record in Berlin in September (2:01:09).

Of course, none of these times were recorded after a ridiculously hard cyclocross race that lasted an hour.

Van der Pol has a Superprestige race in Boom this weekend on Saturday, as well as a World Cup round in Antwerp on Sunday. In the latter, he will face Pidcock and Van Aert for the first time this season.