Cyclo-cross World Cup: Mathieu van der Poel continues dominant streak with Hulst solo raid

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) took yet another cyclo-cross victory on Saturday, powering away from the field in the Hulst World Cup to take his seventh win in his so-far-unbeaten campaign.

The world champion made his race-winning move on the third of eight laps, attacking unchallenged after both Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) suffered issues in the first lap.

After trying but failing to chase down Van der Poel, Baloise Trek Lions teammates Joris Nieuwenhuis and Lars van der Haar took second and third, riding away from their third chasing teammate Pim Ronhaar in the final lap.

Van Aert fought back to finish fifth, 43 seconds down on Van der Poel, whilst Pidcock finished 25th after chasing back from dead last place.

“It’s never easy to win,” Van der Poel said at the finish. “It’s always one hour full gas in cyclo-cross, so it’s not easy.

“I was in the wheel [before attacking], but I kept making too many mistakes, because I couldn’t see the good lines. Then I went to the front to do my own pace.”

Another Van der Poel solo as Pidcock and Van Aert crashes prevent big three battle

It was Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) who got the best start and led off the blocks onto the grass, but the main story from the start was Tom Pidcock’s collision with Cameron Mason in the first corner, which saw his shifter and derailleur break, forcing him to run the first half of the lap to the pits as the race went away from him.

Up ahead, Iserbyt took control at the front of the race, with Laurens Sweeck and Ryan Kamp just behind him, whilst Van der Poel sat uncharacteristically far back in fifth place, a few positions ahead of Van Aert. The world champion made a rare mistake on one of the climbs, demonstrating just how tricky the Hulst course was even for the strongest of riders.

Completing the first lap, a lead group of around 10 riders had emerged at the front, with Van der Poel and Van Aert mixing in with the full-time cyclo-cross riders. A slip up from Van Aert saw his chain come off and the Belgian was held up for around 20 seconds, losing his place in the lead group and having to chase back through the field.

On the second lap, the big lead group became just four leaders, with Tibor del Grosso joining Sweeck, Van der Poel and Lars van der Haar at the head of the race. They were also rejoined by Pim Ronhaar heading into lap 3.

Getting into the third lap, Van der Poel started to up the pace, taking up the lead position for the first time and forcing Van der Haar into the chase. A few bike lengths soon became 100 metres, and the world champion looked to be launching the kind of long solo move that has seen him win every race he’s started so far this season.

Behind, Van Aert was still riding hard to try and chase back to the front, but had a lot of riders to get past, and was missing the chance to challenge Van der Poel up ahead. By the end of lap 3, Van der Poel had eked out a 14 second advantage over Van der Haar, with the chasing trio of Ronhaar, Kamp and Del Grosso another 10 seconds behind him.

Ronhaar made a surge to come back to Van der Haar and into second position, but he couldn’t make many inroads into Van der Poel, and the gap was out to 23 seconds by the halfway point of the race. Van Aert, meanwhile, had moved up to 16th, whilst series leader Iserbyt was drifting down the field, giving away crucial ranking points to Ronhaar up ahead.

As Van der Poel continued to grow his lead, an all-Baloise Trek Lions chasing group emerged as Van der Haar, Ronhaar and Joris Nieuwenhuis joined up in the race for second. Van Aert was steadily moving up, and managed to get back to fifth place, but was still some 30 seconds adrift of the chasers as his chances of a podium spot looked to be disappearing.

Going into the final lap, Van der Poel held a 35-second lead, with another win looking assured for the powerful Dutchman. The chasers started to attack each other on the final lap, but the teammates were all fairly well matched. In the final throes, Nieuwenhuis managed to slip away from the group, and the Dutchman secured second behind the celebrating Van der Poel.

Van der Haar took third and Ronhaar fourth, whilst Van Aert battled back to fifth. After struggling through the first half of the race, series leader Eli Iserbyt did not finish in Hulst.