Mathieu van der Poel dominates world cup in Antwerp, Wout van Aert misses podium

Mathieu van der Poel impressively won the World Cup cyclocross in Antwerp. The world champion broke away from his rivals early in the race, and after just over an hour of racing he was able to celebrate victory. Wout van Aert finished in fourth place. The Belgian had to contend with a flat tire during the race. 

Saturday finally arrived: Van Aert’s much-anticipated return to cyclocross and the long-awaited first duel with Van der Poel. Expectations were high beforehand. Van Aert had so far enjoyed a strong winter, while Van der Poel struggled last week against Thibau Nys, Michael Vanthourenhout, and Lars van der Haar. Was a real battle finally possible?

At 15:10, we would find out, when the starting gun fired along the Scheldt. Within two minutes, Van Aert and Van der Poel had found each other’s wheel, riding together in sixth and seventh positions. Both riders had to move up from the third row, but had no trouble doing so.

Still, the race unfolded rapidly. Already in the first lap, Van der Poel separated himself together with Tibor Del Grosso and Joris Nieuwenhuis from the rest of the field, after which Van der Poel unleashed an impressive acceleration in the sand. Del Grosso and Nieuwenhuis immediately had to drop off, and Van der Poel began his solo ride.

Flat Tire for Van Aert
After that acceleration, Van Aert was riding in fourth position, about fourteen seconds behind the world champion. Slowly but surely, the Belgian began his chase, but the gap to Van der Poel grew each lap. After just three laps, the difference between Van der Poel and the rest of the field was half a minute.

For the remainder of the race, the rest of the field battled for the remaining podium spots. Van Aert seemed for a long time to be in pole position for that: in the fifth lap, he launched an attack away from Nieuwenhuis, Del Grosso, and also the strong Sweeck. The attack didn’t last long, however, as a flat tire set Van Aert back in the race. After changing his tire, the Belgian re-entered in eighth place—with two and a half laps remaining. He was definitely not out of podium contention yet. Second-place rider Sweeck was forty seconds behind Van der Poel in the final laps but twenty seconds ahead of Van Aert. Third and fourth-placed Nieuwenhuis and Emiel Verstrynge rode about ten seconds ahead of Van Aert again.

In the final lap, Van der Poel celebrated his second cyclocross win of the season with a comfortable lead. Behind him, Sweeck grabbed second place, while Verstrynge rounded out the podium. Wout van Aert just missed out on a podium finish.