In his highly anticipated return to cyclocross, Mathieu van der Poel wasted no time asserting his dominance, delivering a commanding performance at the Zonhoven World Cup on Sunday. The World Champion seized the lead early on the first lap, showcasing his mastery of the wet, sandy course, while the rest of the field battled for the remaining podium places.
Van der Poel moved his way to second place before the sandy drop where he descended like a stone straight down overtaking Toon Aerts (Deschacht-Hens-FSP) who had taken the front at the start. This was the last time that Aerts or any of the other riders would see Van der Poel all the way to the finishing line and onto the stage.
The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider had ample time to celebrate his victory, securing a record fifth win at Zonhoven and crossing the line 1:30 ahead of his nearest competitor.
European champion Thibau Nys (Baloise Trek Lions) pulled away from the chase group on the third lap holding a late race chase to take second place ahead of Joran Wyseure (Crelan-Corendon), who claimed third.
“One of the best [race] and maybe the one I didn't expect, so it's really nice,” Van der Poel said of his victory on his first cyclocross race of the season.
The Dutch rider repeated that he didn’t expect the race to unfold as it did given that he had changed his preparation for his shortened cyclocross racing schedule.
“I did a different approach to my first race, a bit less, interval and more like endurance rides to try and get through this busy period, a bit fresher than I did last year, but yeah, I felt really good from the beginning actually.”
“Also the technique was, was really good today, so I'm happy.”
How it unfolded
After a morning storm had delayed the earlier races, the 66-rider field lined up for the much-anticipated return of Van der Poel. Aerts was the fastest off the grid, taking the holeshot and placing himself at the front with Van der Poel picking his way up before the first time down the steep sandy drop. Van der Poel showed his mastery on the descent, where the sand was slightly packed down due to rain.
By the end of the first lap, Van der Poel had established a 21-second lead, a lead that would continue to grow each and every lap. The fight through for podium spots and top 10 continued through the race as the Dutch star showed a masterclass of riding.
A chase group of seven riders, including Pim Ronhaar, Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), Aerts, Wyseure, Nys, Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Corendan) and Mees Hendrikx (Heizomat Radteam) formed by the second lap. Paying the price for his crashes yesterday at the Hulst World Cup, World Cup leader Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) fell behind and had to chase for the remainder of the eight-lap race.
Nys, with the assistance of his teammate Ronhaar, was able to separate himself from the group before the halfway mark and would continue on solo til the end, though he had to hold off a late surge.
Vanthourenhout briefly joined the chase group which splintered under pressure. By the sixth lap, Van der Haar and Wyseure were together with Iserbyt and Aerts chasing not far behind.
Aerts and Syweure took advantage of mistakes on the penultimate lap, first by Iserbyt who chose a different line, hit the barriers, and lost time, and then by Van der Haar who had to unclip to pull slightly away and get closer to Nys.
By the final lap, Wyseure came around Aerts to take third place, his best World Cup result.
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