UCI World Cup Namur: Mathieu van der Poel claims victory on his return to cyclocross in close battle with Thibau Nys

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) overcame serious competition from Thibau Nys (Baloise-Glowi Lions) to win on his return to cyclocross in the Namur round of the UCI World Cup.

The world champion looked under pressure from the young Belgian for large parts of the race, but benefitted from a final lap crash from Nys which allowed him to stretch clear and take his sixth career victory in Namur.

Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen–Altez Industriebouw) finished third having more than played his part on the day, with Lars van der Haar (Baloise-Glowi Lions) forming the final part of an elite quartet at the forefront of the race.

"It's always hard here on this course. But in the end I'm happy to take the win," Van der Poel told the TV cameras after the race.

Van der Poel was patient throughout most of the race, only making his first attack on the seventh lap of nine. He looked in difficulty at times and crashed over his handlebars in the middle-section of the race. However, experience, good fortune and power favoured the 30-year-old in the end as he took victory by nine seconds.

Van der Poel was locked in a battle with his three rivals for the entire race and made the tactical decision to wait in his attempt to drop them, putting down the power in the final lap after Nys fell.

"I made an early decision to wait until the end of the race to make make my move and, I felt quite good in the end," he added.

Van der Poel will race next at the UCI World Cup round in Antwerp on December 20.

How it unfolded

With Van der Poel starting back on the fourth row, there was a chance for the riders on the front row to take a well-needed advantage heading into the opening lap. Toon Vandenbosch (Crelan Corendon) took the lead on the challenging opening ascent ahead of Vanthourenhout as Van der Poel calmly scythed his way through the traffic.

The world champion was through to the top-10 in the opening two minutes of racing and continued to pick off riders as Vanthourenhout attacked at the front. Van der Poel was making light work of things as he rode half-way up the final bank before the finish straight as others ran. Van der Poel was on the wheel of Vanthourenhout as the riders began the second lap with Nys closing the gap behind and towing a small group with him.

Van der Poel sat patiently in the wheel as other riders latched on to the leaders as the second lap went on. Nys accelerated into the lead on the long off-camber straight and took a few bike-lengths of a lead as Van der Poel slipped back through the group, with around 15 riders still within 10 seconds of the front of the race as the second lap concluded.

Vanthourenhout was motivated to keep the pace high on lap 3, drawing clear a leading group of four with Van der Haar, Van der Poel and Nys. The quartet had established a lead of nine seconds over the rest going into lap 4.

As Van der Haar put the pressure on through a descent, Van der Poel crashed over the top of his handlebars. He was quickly back on his bike though, and powered up the next climb to bring himself back to the lead. Seeing the Dutchman’s problem, Nys decided to put the pressure on over the next sections. Van der Poel sat back on the wheel of Van der Haar as a small gap formed to Nys and Vanthourenout with half the race completed. Van der Poel took over from Van der Haar into the longest climb on the course, easing his way up to the Belgian duo up front but retaining his patience, not yet wanting to put his face in the wind as he sat between the two Belgians.

Van der Haar was just losing contact on lap 6, making a leading three as Nys continued to do the work. It was only when Nys went in for a bike change that Van der Poel was forced to momentarily come through. He immediately took his foot off the gas, allowing Van der Haar back. The diminutive Baloise-Glowi Lions rider attacked instantly on the opening climb of lap seven, but the other three protagonists were comfortably able to stay with him.

Then Van der Poel moved on the longest of the climbs on the course, immediately gapping both Van der Haar and Vanthourenhout. However, Nys was able to stay in touch as Van der Poel continued to push on over the following sections and into the penultimate lap. Nys took over the lead once more, putting everything into both the descents and ascents as the crowd chanted his name, but Van der Poel stuck to his wheel on lap 8, setting up a one-lap dash for the win. Vanthourenhout and Van der Haar latched back on to the lead as the duo stalled on the finishing straight.

Van der Poel attacked the first climb but wasn’t able to shake his companions, with Nys re-taking the lead on the descent. As Nys went hard on a descent, a small crash sent him to the back of the group. This gave Van der Poel the opportunity he required to push out an advantage as Nys attempted to recover. The world champion went all-in on the long climb and extended out to an unassailable lead on a banked straight.

The world champion stayed strong to claim the win on his return to cyclocross, with Nys cross the line in second and Vanthourenhout third.

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