Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) successfully defended his title in the Short Track (XCC) race at the opening round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Albstadt, Germany, on Friday.

Van der Poel has enjoyed a successful spring on the road, winning this year's Amstel Gold Race, but has now turned his attention to the MTB world, where he also thrives.

The XCC consists of sub-25 minute cross-country races for Elite women and men on a shortened track, with the top 40 riders in the UCI ranking eligible to take part. The event offers a substantial 50 per cent of the points awarded in the cross-country (XCO), which will take place on Sunday. In addition, for this first event, a top placing guarantees a good start position for the XCO and, for the winners, the World Cup leader's jersey.

Van der Poel had a slow start, having been caught behind Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Torpado Ursus), who struggled with the red-green light countdown instead of the usual gun to start. The Dutchman worked his way back to join the lead group of 10, however, and then launched an attack, which was brought back, but split the lead group. Van der Poel then decisively took the win by over a bike length ahead of Lars Forster (Scott-SRAM) and world champion Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM).

"It was hard to come back from the mid bunch as the speed was so high," commented Van der Poel. "I didn't expect that the attack would stick. Experience tells that one attack is not enough."

Results