Van der Poel cruises to victory in Koksijde

Dutch ace Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) continued his winning streak in the junior men’s category this season by taking his 13th victory of the season at the Cyclo-cross World Cup in Koksijde. On the same sand course where he captured the world championship title back in January, Van der Poel slaughtered the opposition in the third World Cup round of the season.

“It’s going well,” Van der Poel said. “I took a good start and rode a quick first lap. I tried to make sure the gap grew straight away.”

Once again Quinten Hermans (Belgium) was best of the rest, 1:35 behind the winner. Martijn Budding (Netherlands) joined his compatriot van der Poel on the podium, finishing two minutes later.

Van der Poel thus strengthens his lead in the World Cup, holding the maximum of 180 points after three rounds. Hermans lies second overall with 150 points. Budding and Logan Owen (USA) are tight in third place with 115 points. “Fifth isn’t great but on the course that suits me worst of all it’s not bad,” Owen said of his showing in Koksijde.

After the first lap, van der Poel had twenty seconds on first chaser Hermans, with Owen confirming his good results by riding in third position. “They tried to make me chase van der Poel early on but it’s not up to me to do that,” Owen told Cyclingnews. The American faded back to fifth place during the second lap with Budding and Yannick Peeters (Belgium) leaving him behind. “I was unable to use all gears but didn’t want to switch bikes as it was too fast at the pit,” Owen said. Nicolas Cleppe (Belgium) put the pressure on Owen for fifth place, nearly catching up after the third lap.

Meanwhile, after his super fast first lap, van der Poel shifted back although he was still clocking steadily fast lap times while his rivals kept going slower. “A couple of times I got frustrated with myself because some passages didn’t go too well. It’s a challenge to be up there every time,” van der Poel said after grabbing his thirteenth consecutive win.

The positions in the top 6 remained the same from the third lap on until the finish after six laps of racing in the Koksijde dunes. The battle for seventh place was fought out between a group of seven riders, including Curtis White (USA). “I felt really good early on but paced myself because I felt I was probably overdoing it. In the final lap I attacked the group but bobbled. I caught back on but didn’t have anything left for the finale,” White told Cyclingnews, shortly after finishing tenth in Koksijde.