Mathieu van der Poel crushes opposition yet again in Zonhoven World Cup

Image 1 of 2 Mathieu van der Poel (Image credit: Getty Images) Mathieu van der Poel during the Zonhoven World Cup (Image credit: Getty Images) Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Deceuninck) secured his fourth World Cup win in a row, soloing to the victory after a masterclass performance through the sand in Zonhoven.

The two teams that were dominant in numbers, Baloise Trek Lions and Crelan Corendon, were no match for the World Champion, who made his winning move on the fourth of eight laps and extended his lead to 20 seconds as he crossed the line for the victory. Joris Nieuwenhuis (Baloise Trek Lions) won the race for second place, gaining a small gap as he entered the finishing straight away, forcing Laurens Sweeck (Crelan Corendon) to settle for third.

Pim Ronhaar (Baloise Trek Lions) finished fourth. Toon Vandebosch (Crelan Corendon) was initially among the chase group racing for second but a crash on the final sand descent saw him lose time and finish fifth at 59 seconds back. World Cup leader Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen Bingoal) struggled with the pace during this round of the series and finished in sixth at 1:11.

“I’m super happy with how this part of the cyclo cross season went, but I’m also happy that I can go to Spain and work on the form again,” Van der Poel said, admitting that he raced more conservatively at the start in Zonhoven due to the colder temperatures. “I wanted to see how the race developed.

It was cold and took me a while before I got into my own rhythm. It’s a tough race, and I didn’t want to waste too much energy today.“ I’m always happy to win, of course. I felt OK, and I’m happy I can go and do more training.” More later... Results Results powered by FirstCycling.