Van Aert back on top in Zolder World Cup

Eleven months after capturing the world title in Heusden-Zolder, Belgian Wout Van Aert (Crelan-Vastgoedservice) returned to the same racing circuit, capturing a tremendous solo victory in the seventh round of the Telenet UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup and strengthening his massive overall lead.

"It’s really weird," Van Aert said in the flash interview following his win. "Zolder never used to be my favourite course until I turned world champion here. Now I win for the second time in a year. Clearly it does something with a person; it’s something special." 

Van Aert relegated his rivals to a race for second, finishing more than a minute ahead of surprising runner-up Laurens Sweeck (ERA Real Estate-Circus). Kevin Pauwels (Marlux-Napoleon Games) once again finished in third place. Dutch champion Mathieu van der Poel (Beobank-Corendon) didn’t have a perfect start and ran into mechanical problems, eventually ruining his run for third place and finishing 14th.

The race brings an end to the year-long unbeaten streak in the World Cup for Van der Poel. The win for Van Aert made an end to a series of second place behind his arch rival.

“It pleased me a lot to win again and a bit of show at the finish was allowed. Showing off and then claiming it was by accident isn’t my style,” Van Aert said in the flash interview.

When crossing the finish line Van Aert looked back and indicated there was nobody in sight. The move was a jab at Van der Poel. Three days earlier the latter might have hurt Van Aert’s feelings by taking time for a spectacular jump shortly after distancing the world champion late in the Superprestige round in Diegem.

Van Aert opted to try and avoid taking Van der Poel with him into the final lap. When noticing the Dutch rider had a troubled start Van Aert opened up the gas in front, never looking back. He made no mistakes on the slightly muddy course in Zolder.

"If I tactically ride this way it’s usually my best way of racing. The last few race I’ve been beaten in the final lap and I wanted to play my cards earlier. Of course it wasn’t the goal to be alone that early but I saw Mathieu didn’t get away well and I tried to make it as hard as possible for him," Van Aert said.

Van der Poel got boxed in and nearly rode into Michael Vanthourenhout (Marlux-Napoleon Games) after an early 180 degrees corner. In the chaos he also hit his foot. It cost him a good position early on and forced him to swap shoes in the third lap.

"I took a good start but got forced into the barriers. I really wasn’t happy with that. With all the pushing going on I wrecked my shoe. Once I swapped my shoe I realized that I had to focus for a podium result," Van der Poel told Sporza. When asked who was responsible, Van der Poel said, "I know who did it and I’ll surely remember."

While Van der Poel was being flipper-balled in the peloton, Van Aert surged away with European champion Toon Aerts (Telenet-Fidea), who tried to hold his wheel. Laurens Sweeck quickly went in search of the duo but he was never able to close the gap.

"Gianni Vermeersch lost the wheel and the gap was quickly up to 10 seconds," Sweeck told Sporza. "I briefly came closer but Wout had a good section at the back-end of the course where he opened up the gap again."

After the opening lap Van Aert and Aerts were nine seconds ahead of Sweeck, Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea) and Gianni Vermeersch (Steylaerts-Verona). Kevin Pauwels, David van der Poel (Beobank-Corendon) and a well started Lars Boom (Astana). Mathieu van der Poel was in a third group at 21 seconds from the two leaders. During the second lap Van Aert dropped Aerts, with Sweeck riding alone in third place.

Meanwhile, Mathieu van der Poel moved up to fourth place at half a minute from leader Van Aert. At the beginning of the third lap, Van der Poel switched his shoe and that incident threw him out of the top 10. Van Aert didn’t mind. With six laps to go he was a minute ahead of rival Van der Poel. Aerts had a flat tyre, losing his second place to Sweeck.

For Vermeersch, the Christmas races weren’t bringing him much luck. Three days ago in Diegem, he rode for a top five until he broke his derailleur. On Monday, the same mechanical problem happened on a steep off-camber climb. Game over for the Belgian rider.

Halfway through the race, Van Aert was enjoying a very comfortable lead of 45 seconds over Sweeck. Van der Poel gained a lot of positions and popped up in the group that rode for third place at one minute, with Michael Vanthourenhout and Aerts. Pauwels, Meeusen and a fading Boom were ten seconds further back.

In the closing laps, Van Aert kept expanding his lead as he rode flawlessly over the challenging course. Sweeck rode a similar time trial in second place. He profited from the tactical battle for third place that unfolded behind him. The pace in this group often dropped on the long finishing straight, allowing dropped riders to bridge back up.

When hitting the final lap Sweeck trailed Van Aert by just over a minute. Van der Poel, Aerts, Meeusen, Pauwels and Vanthourenhout trailed the leader by nearly two minutes. With a late surge in the final lap Van der Poel was headed for third place but then flatted and sat up.

"It was useless to do the effort. I think third place was mine until I flatted. What was left was too technical and difficult to bother," Van der Poel said. Pauwels was pleased to take over third place from Van der Poel, after holding off Aerts in a close sprint.

"In the end Mathieu was gone but he had a mechanical. I’m often in third place these days but I’m not complaining," Pauwels told Sporza.

In the World Cup standings Van Aert picked up 80 points and extends his lead over Pauwels up to a massive 91 points. Sweeck is ten points further back. The penultimate round of the World Cup will be held on the 15th of January in Fiuggi, Italy.

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