Mathieu van der Poel dominated the sandy course in Antwerp to take a solo win at the fifth round of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup. The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider easily claimed his second victory in his second World Cup of the season.
Though all eyes were on a potential duel between the world champion and his eternal rival Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) on the Belgian’s first cyclocross race of the season, it was clear after two laps that the Dutch rider was a notch above as he escaped solo, and the rest of the field was racing for the remaining podium places. In a mix for a podium spot, Van Aert suffered a flat tyre on the fifth lap and finished 7th, 51 seconds behind the winner.
Sand specialist Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Corendon) pulled away from a chase group with four laps to go to secure second place, while his teammate Emiel Verstrynge took third.
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“It was a good race, but I don't think I was the best in the sand today. I made quite a few mistakes on the longer sections, but I felt already way better than last week,” said Van der Poel, who had a close battle with Thibau Nys before winning Namur World Cup last weekend.
“The legs just felt stronger. Of course, this is also a completely different course, but I felt already during the week, I was feeling a bit fresher than I was before Namur. So yeah, I'm happy to win again today.”
Series leader Nys (Baloise-Glowi Lions) faded early on the sandy course on the shores of the Schelde River and ultimately finished 23rd, 3:23 in arrears. Sweeck takes the series lead with 116 points, three points ahead of Nys, as Van der Poel moved up to seventh place in the overall standings.
The second race of the double weekend of World Cup racing in Belgium will take place in Koksijde on Sunday, where Van der Poel is slated to start, but not Van Aert.
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Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) accelerates to the delight of a huge crowd that lined the course (Image credit: Getty Images)
How it unfolded
The course for the season’s first cyclocross duel between Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert has been slightly revised compared to previous years. The start and finish straight has moved to Thonetlaan, a wider section that allows easier positioning before the riders hit the sand after about 400 metres. Elsewhere, the lap’s two long sandy sections, approximately 100 metres each, were repositioned, including a midway stretch where riders can opt for firmer ground closer to the water, though all riders chose to run the higher line.
A huge field of 91 riders, staged in 12 rows lined up for the first day of a double header of Belgian world cup races, with both Van der Poel and Van Aert starting back on the third row, with the first two rows dedicated to the top 16-ranked cyclocross riders.
A crash took down a few riders at the start, including American Jules Van Kempen, who spent some time on the ground before abandoning the race.
The Crelan-Corendon riders hit the front immediately, with Laurens Sweeck setting the pace after a fast start as Van der Poel moved up quickly to the front by the end of the first of eight laps, followed by Netherlands champion Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ridley Racing Team). Behind them, groups formed and reformed, as series leader Thibau Nys (Baloise Glowi Lions) faded back and would not be seen at the pointy end of the race.
Van der Poel briefly pulled away only to be brought back when he made a small bobble, but that was just a temporary reprieve. On the second lap, he continued to apply pressure, putting in small digs at the front, and gapped Del Grosso and Nieuwenhuis to continue on solo.
Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) leads chase group on sand section (Image credit: Getty Images)
With six laps to go, Van der Poel had a 10-second lead, and the chasers behind quickly changed their focus to the podium places, with Del Grosso, Nieuwenhuis, Van Aert, Sweeck, and Verstrynge all with a chance for a top 3 finish.
On the fifth lap, Sweeck pulled away from the chase group, going solo 29 seconds behind Van der Poel, with Van Aert leading a chase group that included Nieuwenhuis, Del Grosso and Verstrynge. But a flat tyre and a bike change, pushed Van Aert back down, forcing him to try and mount a chase back.
With two laps to go, Van der Poel continued to stretch his lead, up to 43 seconds to Sweeck while Nieuwenhuis and Verstrynge were together a further 10 seconds back, and 11 seconds ahead of a group with Niels Vanderputte (Alpecin-Deceuninck Development Team), Pim Ronhaar (Baloise Glowi Lions), Del Grosso and Van Aert.
The first two spots on the podium were set by the start of the bell lap, with Van der Poel cruising to another victory after racing 50 minutes solo, and Sweeck in second spot, 24 seconds back. Verstrynge was able to hold off Ronhaar to take third.
Lyne has been involved in professional cycling for more than 15 years in both news reporting and sports marketing. She founded Podium Insight in 2008, quickly becoming a trusted source for news of the North American professional cycling world. She was the first to successfully use social media to consistently provide timely and live race updates for all fans. She is proud to have covered men's and women's news equally during her tenure at the helm of the site. Her writing has appeared on Cyclingnews and other news sites.
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