Mathieu Van Der Poel(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Quinten Hermans(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Power washers got a workout on Sunday at Gavere(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Joris Nieuwenhuis(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tim Merlier(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Lars van der Haar(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Toon Aerts(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Wout van Aert(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Michael Vanthourenhout(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Mathieu van der Poel (Beobank-Correndon) racing the Superprestige Gavere(Image credit: Tim de Waele)
Superprestige Gavere(Image credit: Tim de Waele)
Lars van der Haar racing the Superprestige Gavere(Image credit: Tim de Waele)
Lars van der Haar racing the Superprestige Gavere(Image credit: Tim de Waele)
Racing at the Superprestige Gavere in 2017(Image credit: Tim de Waele)
Superprestige Gavere action with Wout Van Aert (Crelan-Charles) in the lead(Image credit: Tim de Waele)
Mathieu van der Poel (Beobank-Correndon) in action at the Superprestige Gavere(Image credit: Tim de Waele)
Wout Van Aert (Crelan-Charles) on his way to winning the Superprestige Gavere(Image credit: Tim de Waele)
David Van Der Poel and Lars van der Haar(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Wout van Aert(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The Superprestige elite men's podium(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tim Merlier and Dieter Vanthourenthout(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Gioele Bertolini(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Kevin Pauwels(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
World champion Wout Van Aert (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Quinten Hermans(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Wout Van Aert (Crelan - Charles) wins Superprestige Gavere(Image credit: Tim de Waele)
Wout Van Aert (Crelan - Charles) wins Superprestige Gavere(Image credit: Tim de Waele)
Wout Van Aert (Crelan - Charles) wins Superprestige Gavere(Image credit: Tim de Waele)
Mathieu Van Der Poel has a bike change(Image credit: Tim de Waele)
Mathieu Van Der Poel at the finish(Image credit: Tim de Waele)
(Image credit: Tim de Waele)
Wout Van Aert (Crelan - Charles) on the top step at Superprestige Gavere(Image credit: Tim de Waele)
Superprestige Gavere 2017 men's elite podium(Image credit: Tim de Waele)
Wout Van Aert (Crelan-Charles) took a surprise victory in the fifth round of the Superprestige Trophy in Gavere. Toon Aerts (Telenet-Fidea Lions) finished second, 53 seconds back, while Mathieu van der Poel (Beobank-Correndon) rounded out the podium at 1:16 down.
Van der Poel had started out the day looking for his fourth win from five rounds of the series, and the start of the muddy race in Gavere did little to disabuse any watchers of the notion that he would achieve just that.
The newly-crowned European champion and Van Aert, himself fresh from a Tuscan training camp, separated themselves from the field early on the first lap as others struggled in the wet mud.
Any sparring between the rivals didn’t last long though, as at the end of the lap van der Poel decided it was time to strike out. Van Aert’s bike change only lengthened the gap, and the Belgian hitting the deck on lap two seemed to confirm a sure van der Poel victory.
Indeed, Van Aert had more to concern himself about from the riders behind than the man up front. Aerts, in good form after winning Jaarmarktcross on Saturday, was eating up the gap to his countryman, passing him on the third lap and pulling out a 15 second gap by lap four of the race.
At one point Aerts was actually putting time into van der Poel, almost unthinkable given his domination of the season so far. However, the penultimate lap saw him blow and lose his second place, falling from within 20 seconds of the lead to over a minute back.
Meanwhile, van der Poel seemed to be enjoying a leisurely ride to victory, with a lap five puncture and bike change proving only a minor inconvenience. Disaster struck midway through the last of the race’s six laps though, as he pulled up with apparent rear mech problems.
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Time ticked by as the Dutchman tended to his bike, with a surprised Van Aert riding past having previously been trailing by over 30 seconds. Aerts and Klaas Vantornout (Marlux-Napoleon Games) were next up, passing van der Poel before he finally got going again.
Van Aert, his rainbow jersey turned brown by the mud, went on to take his second win of the season, while over a minute back van der Poel managed to salvage something from the day. On a day where he had previously been coasting to certain victory, he managed to catch and pass Vantornout in the closing stages to take third.
Results
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#
Rider Name (Country) Team
Result
1
Wout Van Aert (Bel) Crelan - Charles
0:58:30
2
Toon Aerts (Bel) Telenet Fidea Lions
0:00:55
3
Mathieu Van Der Poel (Ned) Beobank-Corendon
0:01:17
4
Klaas Vantornout (Bel) Marlux - Napoleon Games
0:01:22
5
Tom Meeusen (Bel) Beobank-Corendon
0:01:33
6
Lars Van Der Haar (Ned) Telenet Fidea Lions
0:01:36
7
Quinten Hermans (Bel) Telenet Fidea Lions
0:02:00
8
Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Marlux - Napoleon Games
0:02:49
9
Michael Vanthourenhout (Bel) Marlux - Napoleon Games
0:03:09
10
Vincent Baestaens (Bel)
0:03:27
11
Jens Adams (Bel) Pauwels Sauzen - Vastgoedservice
0:03:29
12
Diether Sweeck (Bel) Era-Circus
0:03:44
13
Nicolas Cleppe (Bel) Telenet Fidea Lions
0:03:51
14
Tim Merlier (Bel) Crelan - Charles
0:04:13
15
Joeri Adams (Bel)
0:04:24
16
Michael Boroš (Cze) Pauwels Sauzen - Vastgoedservice
0:04:35
17
Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ned)
0:04:44
18
David Van Der Poel (Ned) Beobank-Corendon
0:05:06
19
Rob Peeters (Bel) Pauwels Sauzen - Vastgoedservice
0:05:26
20
Stan Godrie (Ned) Crelan - Charles
0:06:15
21
Gioele Bertolini (Ita)
0:06:36
22
Daan Hoeyberghs (Bel) Steylaerts - Betfirst
0:07:13
LAP
Gosse Van Der Meer (Ned) Tarteletto - Isorex
Row 22 - Cell 2
LAP
Julien Kaise (Bel)
Row 23 - Cell 2
LAP
Kenneth Van Compernolle (Bel) Tarteletto - Isorex
Row 24 - Cell 2
LAP
Yu Takenouchi (Jpn)
Row 25 - Cell 2
DNF
Laurens Sweeck (Bel) Era-Circus
Row 26 - Cell 2
DNF
Gianni Vermeersch (Bel) Steylaerts - Betfirst
Row 27 - Cell 2
DNF
Eli Iserbyt (Bel) Marlux - Napoleon Games
Row 28 - Cell 2
DNF
Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) Marlux - Napoleon Games
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor, later being hired full-time. Her favourite races include Strade Bianche, the Tour de France Femmes, Paris-Roubaix, and Tro-Bro Léon.
