Van der Poel adds another win at Superprestige Diegem

After a rocky start, Mathieu van der Poel (Beobank-Corendon) prevailed to take his fourth Superprestige win in six races under the floodlights at Diegem. Wout Van Aert (Crelan-Charles) took second, 55 seconds back, while at 1:41 Laurens Sweeck (Era-Circus) rounded off the podium.

Saturday night’s race was the fourth of a five-part holiday cyclo-cross feast. Boxing Day’s World Cup round in Heusden-Zolder saw van der Poel take the win, while two days later at Azencross - part of the DVV Trofee - he was on top of the podium again. After two podium finishes, Van Aert struck back at Friday’s Brico Cross round in Bredene, setting up another battle here.

Things haven’t always gone smoothly for van der Poel this year, with a crash in Boom and mech problems in Gavere denying him a clean sweep of Superprestige victories. At the start of lap one it seemed as though bad luck had struck once again as the European champion hit a barrier.

It was a minor crash rather than a somersault - the main victim being van der Poel’s position. He would have to fight his way back through the field while up front Van Aert put on a blistering pace to take advantage while he could, lining out the front group and getting a small gap at the end of the first lap.

It would only take another lap - the second of seven - for van der Poel to clear the riders in his path. At the end of it he lay 13 seconds behind Van Aert, a gap that vanished amazingly quickly. Just over half a lap later the pair were reunited in the sand, with Sweeck the only other rider within 50 seconds.

At the beginning of lap three van der Poel was on his way. A few metres, a handful of seconds and he was gone. By the uphill road section he looked out of reach, and the only question that remained unanswered was a familiar one: how much would van der Poel win by?

A final flourish saw the Dutchman hold his bike aloft on the line while the remainder of the field slogged their way around - many of them minutes behind. Beyond the podium, German champion Marcel Meisen put in an impressive ride to finish fifth.

Saturday night’s victory sees van der Poel (85pts) close the gap to Van Aert (86) at the top of the Superprestige rankings to one point with two rounds remaining in February. General hostilities recommence on New Year’s Day at the DVV Trofee’s GP Sven Nys.

Results

Swipe to scroll horizontally
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Mathieu Van Der Poel (Ned) Corendon - Circus1:03:45
2Wout Van Aert (Bel) Crelan - Charles0:00:55
3Laurens Sweeck (Bel) Era-Circus0:01:41
4Toon Aerts (Bel) Telenet Fidea Lions0:02:18
5Marcel Meisen (Ger) Steylaerts-Betfirst0:02:28
6Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Marlux-Napoleon Games0:02:30
7Tom Meeusen (Bel) Corendon-Circus0:02:36
8David Van Der Poel (Ned) Corendon-Circus0:02:51
9Michael Boroš (Cze) Pauwels Sauzen-Vastgoedservice0:02:55
10Quinten Hermans (Bel) Telenet Fidea Lions0:03:15
11Michael Vanthourenhout (Bel) Marlux-Napoleon Games0:03:25
12Tim Merlier (Bel) Crelan - Charles0:03:36
13Lars Van Der Haar (Ned) Telenet Fidea Lions0:03:47
14Jens Adams (Bel) Pauwels Sauzen-Vastgoedservice0:04:14
15Stan Godrie (Ned) Crelan-Charles0:04:22
16Nicolas Cleppe (Bel) Telenet Fidea Lions0:04:48
17Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ned)0:05:37
18Ismael Esteban Aguero (Spa) Ginestar-Delikia0:05:47
19Felipe Orts Lloret (Spa) Ginestar-Delikia0:06:05
20Diether Sweeck (Bel) Era-Circus0:06:29
21Severin Sägesser (Swi)0:06:32
-1 LapGarry Millburn (Aus)Row 21 - Cell 2
-1 LapGioele Bertolini (Ita)Row 22 - Cell 2
-1 LapVincent Baestaens (Bel)Row 23 - Cell 2
-1 LapKenneth Hansen (Den)Row 24 - Cell 2
-2 LapsEli Iserbyt (Bel) Marlux - Napoleon GamesRow 25 - Cell 2
-2 LapsBrody Sanderson (Can)Row 26 - Cell 2
-3 LapsTrevor O'donnell (Can)Row 27 - Cell 2
-3 LapsKohei Maeda (Jpn)Row 28 - Cell 2
-3 LapsMartin Eriksson (Swe)Row 29 - Cell 2
-3 LapsAndrew Juiliano (USA)Row 30 - Cell 2
-3 LapsErno Mc Crae (Bel)Row 31 - Cell 2
-3 LapsNicholas Diniz (Can)Row 32 - Cell 2
-4 LapsYu Takenouchi (Jpn)Row 33 - Cell 2
-4 LapsHenrik Jansson (Swe)Row 34 - Cell 2
-4 LapsAlexander Forrester (GBr)Row 35 - Cell 2
DNFGianni Vermeersch (Bel) Steylaerts-BetfirstRow 36 - Cell 2
DNFDieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) Marlux-Napoleon GamesRow 37 - Cell 2

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Daniel Ostanek
Production editor

Daniel Ostanek is production editor at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired as staff writer. Prior to joining the team, he had written for most major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly, Rouleur, and CyclingTips.

 

Daniel has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France and the spring Classics, and has interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel, Demi Vollering, and Anna van der Breggen.

 

As well as original reporting, news and feature writing, and production work, Daniel also runs The Leadout newsletter and oversees How to Watch guides throughout the season. His favourite races are Strade Bianche and the Volta a Portugal, and he rides a Colnago C40.

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