Van der Poel dominates in Tabor

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It’s not an easy task to walk in the footsteps of a famous father. Mathieu van der Poel is the son of famous cyclo-cross and road rider Adrie and the grandson of legendary French rider Raymond Poulidor. On Sunday morning he convincingly grabbed the win in the first round of the Junior Men World Cup in Tabor, Czech Republic.

The first-year Junior distanced his last opponent Quentin Jauregui (France) halfway through the race and despite easing off at the end he still had 20 seconds on runner-up Jauregui. Daan Hoeyberghs (Belgium) was third in Tabor; the home riders disappointed as none were able to crack the top-10 on home soil.

Jauregui and Van der Poel led the race together during the first two laps, while a large group of about ten riders kept the leaders in sight. After two laps the chase group was reduced to six riders as the speed in front was too high for Jauregui - he dropped back into the chase group with Hoeyberghs, Wout Van Aert (Belgium), Daan Soete (Belgium), Gioele Bertolini (Italy), Marco König (Germany) and Romain Seigle (France).

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While Van der Poel kept extending his lead up to 30 seconds, the battle for second place was on in the chase group as Jauregui sneaked away together with Hoeyberghs. The two held off a comeback from Seigle, Bertolini, Van Aert and Soete and sprinted for the podium spots. Twenty seconds after Van der Poel secured his comfortable win Jauregui was much stronger and took second place. Seigle was best of the rest and finished fourth ahead of Soete, Bertolini and Van Aert.

British rider Hugo Robinson enjoyed a solid race and finished just outside the top 10, 58 seconds behind Van der Poel.

Full Results

Junior Men - World Cup standings after 1 round