Van der Poel wins in Zeven

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Mathieu van der Poel (Beobank-Corendon) won the fifth round of the Telenet UCI World Cup in Zeven on Saturday on a cold afternoon in northern Germany. Temperatures hovered around freezing point when the start was given and the 21-year-old needed some time to get going. He had a troubled opening lap but then crushed his rivals on the fast and twisting course. Van der Poel closed down an 18-second deficit on early leader Wout Van Aert (Crelan-Vastgoedservice), who then was unable to keep up with the Dutch champion.

"I knew I had to close the gap as soon as possible because Wout was quite far. Once I bridged up I knew I was stronger because it's boosting the moral to have closed down such a gap. I quickly counter-attacked and straight away I had a big gap. It was fun," van der Poel told Telenet Play Sports TV.

Van der Poel rode just outside the top-10 when reaching the sand pit. The Dutchman claimed someone had ridden into his wheels, forcing him to lose some spokes. By the time he made it to the pit and switched bikes, he was 18 seconds down on leaders Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea) and Van Aert.

"I didn't start well because I was surprised the lights turned green so fast," van der Poel said. "Then there was a bit of pushing and at the sand section I lost some spokes. I lost a lot of time to get a new bike."

Van Aert didn't waste time and went flat out, hoping to create an unbridgeable gap over van der Poel. It wasn't to be. From the third lap on van der Poel was out of traffic and time-trialed his way to the front. Halfway through the sixth of ten laps in Zeven, the Dutch champion bridged up with the World champion. Once the seventh lap got underway, van der Poel took the lead. After tackling a few fast corners on the course at the ‘Hinter der Ahe' forest, Van Aert was simply dropped by van der Poel. The latter went on to clock the fastest lap time of the race, 13 seconds faster than Van Aert in that lap.

Van Aert tried to remain upbeat after his defeat over van der Poel. "I managed to put him in trouble for half a race. Once he moved into the lead I realized after three corners what would happen. It was as if he rode on other tires. I was unable to follow him. He was the strongest," Van Aert said.

Midway through the race, Tom Meeusen appeared to be on his way to third place, riding well in the shadow of the battle between van der Poel and Van Aert. During the second half of the event, however, Meeusen lost momentum while Kevin Pauwels (Marlux-Napoleon Games) started to pick up speed in the background. By the time they hit the penultimate lap, the Belgian duo was together, fighting for the final podium spot at nearly 40 seconds from leader van der Poel. Pauwels easily dropped Meeusen and finished third.

"I didn't have a good start and was unable to move up. Once there was space I got going," Pauwels said. "I rode good through the sand. Van der Poel passed me in the sand. He was going much faster and it was impossible to follow him. Even though I enjoyed a good day van der Poel was still much stronger."

Mathieu van der Poel is on a winning streak in the World Cup, winning his sixth consecutive World Cup start. Nevertheless World champion Van Aert remains leader in this season's World Cup as van der Poel didn't participate in the two first rounds due to a knee injury. Van Aert strengthens his lead in the World Cup with 300 points. Pauwels moves into second place in the World Cup standings with 229 points. Laurens Sweeck (ERA Real Estate - Circus) finished sixth in Zeven. He drops to third overall with 224 points. Mathieu van der Poel is eighth overall after his two wins with 160 points. He seems keen to continue his winning streak in the World Cup.

"The last few weeks I felt I was hitting top form. I hope to keep up this form until the next training camp and then add a few percentages with the eye on the World championships," van der Poel said. On December 18th, he has the chance to win again at the citadel in Namur, Belgium, where he started his winning streak one year ago.

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