Mathieu van der Poel dominates in Essen

OTEGEM BELGIUM JANUARY 13 Mathieu Van Der Poel of The Netherlands and AlpecinFenix Team during the 52nd Internationale Betafence CX Otegem 2020 Men Elite UCICX Otegem on January 13 2020 in Otegem Belgium Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images

(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) continued to dominate the cyclo-cross season, winning the muddy Ethias Cross race in northern Belgium with a controlled ride in the mud.

The world champion rode a paced race for much of the nine flat laps and then opened the gas in the final 15 minutes after a tactical bike change. He then gradually distanced Quinten Hermans (Tormans) and never looked back, going on to win by 10 seconds after easing up during the final lap. It was his third victory of the season.

Tom Pidcock (Trinity Racing) was again close to Van der Poel’s level but a spill and a suspected puncture cost him vital seconds. He fought with Laurens Sweeck (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) in the final laps but managed to hang on to third place at 18 seconds.

Van der Poel revealed that a mid-race tyre pressure change was vital. He reportedly eased his pressure by a tenth of a bar to 1.3.

"Early on I made a lot of mistakes. My tires were a bit too hard. When I changed bikes it went a lot smoother," he explained post-race.

"I tried to win as comfortably as possible, because I have a busy program ahead of me. I liked the course here because I could use my bike skills. After the tough crosses in Gavere and Namur, that was welcome."

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Full Results
Pos.	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix	1:02:43
2	Quinten Hermans (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert	0:00:11
3	Thomas Pidcock (GBr) Trinity Racing	0:00:18
4	Laurens Sweeck (Bel) Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal	0:00:23
5	Toon Aerts (Bel) Telenet Baloise Lions	0:01:13
6	Felipe Orts Lloret (Spa) Teika-BH-Gsport	0:01:23
7	Ryan Kamp (Ned) Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal	0:01:58
8	Jim Aernouts (Bel) Telenet Baloise Lions	0:02:17
9	Nicolas Cleppe (Bel) Telenet Baloise Lions	0:02:47
10	Ben Turner (GBr) Trinity Racing	0:02:49
11	Loris Rouiller (Swi) Alpecin-Fenix	0:02:51
12	Toon Vandebosch (Bel) Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal	0:02:55
13	Lander Loockx (Bel) Group Hens-Maes Containers	0:02:56
14	Thijs Aerts (Bel) Telenet Baloise Lions	0:02:59
15	Yentl Bekaert (Bel) Telenet Baloise Lions	0:03:10
16	Stan Godrie (Ned)	0:03:34
17	Ward Huybs (Bel) Telenet Baloise Lions	0:03:49
18	Curtis White (USA)	0:03:58
19	Seppe Rombouts (Bel)	0:04:05
20	Tom Meeusen (Bel) Group Hens-Maes Containers	0:04:12
21	Mathieu Morichon (Fra)	0:04:35
22	Ingmar Uytdewilligen (Bel)	0:04:42
23	Mickaël Crispin (Fra) Cross Team Legendre	0:04:48
24	Arne Vrachten (Bel)	0:04:56
25	Thibau Nys (Bel) Telenet Baloise Lions	0:05:02
26	Kyle Agterberg (Ned)	0:05:05
27	Michael van den Ham (Can)	0:05:11
28	Joris Delbove (Fra) Team S1neo-Graal-Bjorka	0:05:12
29	Ugo Ananie (Fra) Cross Team Legendre	0:05:20
30	Mario Junquera San Millan (Spa)	0:05:21
31	Witse Meeussen (Bel) Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal	0:05:23
32	Tom Mainguenaud (Fra)	0:05:25
33	Len Dejonghe (Bel) Group Hens-Maes Containers
34	Arthur Tropardy (Fra)
35	Arne Baers (Bel)
36	Valentin Guillaud (Fra)
37	Joachim van Looveren (Bel) Proximus-Alphamotorhomes-Doltcini CT
38	Dolf Pemen (Bel) Proximus-Alphamotorhomes-Doltcini CT
39	Cyprien Gilles (Fra)
40	Julian Siemons (Bel)
41	Noé Castille (Fra) Cross Team Legendre
42	Klaas Groenen (Ned)
43	Jens Gys (Bel)
44	Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Circus-Wanty Gobert
45	Ronan Auffret (Fra) Team Podiocom CC
46	Robin Alderweireld (Bel)
47	Yves Coolen (Bel)
48	Antoine Huby (Fra) Cross Team Legendre
49	Thomas Gachignard (Fra) Team Podiocom CC
50	Koen van Dijke (Ned)
51	Timothé Gabriel (Fra)
52	Lilian Schneider (Fra) Cross Team Legendre
53	Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain McLaren
54	Hugo Thirotel (Fra)
55	Vincent Oger (Bel)
DNF	David van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix
DNF	Sascha Weber (Ger)
DNF	Timo Kielich (Bel) Credishop-Fristads
DNF	Ydris Salomez (Bel) Proximus-Alphamotorhomes-Doltcini CT
DNF	Justin Laevens (Bel) Proximus-Alphamotorhomes-Doltcini CT

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