Boulo wins but falls one point short

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Matthieu Boulo (France) grabbed his second consecutive win in the World Cup in Hoogerheide, The Netherlands. The French champion held off Belgian champion Joeri Adams in a long sprint on the muddy course. The two wins from Boulo were not enough to take the overall World Cup win, however, as European champion Lars van der Haar (Netherlands) showed more consistency this season. Although he didn’t win a single World Cup round, the Dutchman tops the overall ranking with one point more than Boulo.

“I was only thinking about the victory today, not the overall standings. During the last lap there were a lot of fights going on to get the best position in our large group. I started my sprint from far out and was able keep it until the line,” Boulo told Cyclingnews.

During the first half of the race Boulo featured in a large lead group that also included World Cup leader Vincent Baestaens (Belgium). The latter seemingly blew his engine during the fourth lap and he quickly lost ground. Van der Haar and Boulo were the only riders left in contention for the overall win and both featured at the front.

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Adams made up for a bad start and bridged up to the six leaders during the fifth lap and he went on to surprise his opponents by leading for the first half of the final lap. “I tried to lower the speed in the group so I could recover but suddenly Boulo ran past me in the mud. Right after that I couldn't click quickly into my pedal and lost his wheel. It was too much to make up before the finish,” Adams said.

Boulo steamed towards the win ahead of Adams. Van der Haar did just enough to win the World Cup by grabbing third place on home soil. Belgians Jim Aernouts and Vinnie Braet fell just short of the podium.

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