Exact Cross Loenhout: Mathieu van der Poel's faultless cyclo-cross season continues

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won his sixth cyclo-cross race from six starts with victory in the Exact Cross Loenhout on Friday.

The multiple world champion attacked on the third lap of a technical and muddy race and was unstoppable as he built an advantage of over a minute by the finish.

While Van der Poel's outing felt more like a procession than a race there was at least a competitive battle for the remaining podium spots with Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck) beating Felipe Orts (Teika–BH–GSport) and Ryan Kamp (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) to the line in a close finish.

With Tom Pidcock and Wout van Aert both missing from the startline all eyes were on van der Poel as he looked to win once again on the cyclo-cross circuit.

A crash just seconds after the start held up half the field but most of the main contenders managed to escape the fall with Orts and Kamp setting a furious pace at the start of the first lap.

An initial group of seven formed near the front with Van der Poel sitting back in the middle of the selection as Timon Rüegg (Heizomat Radteam p/b Kloster Kitchen) pushed to the front.

Van der Poel was almost taken down on the second lap when Toon Vandebosch crashed in front of him but by the end of the second lap Rüegg was still leading but had van der Poel shadowing his every move.

Orts and Kamp made contact with the leading duo before Vermeersch latched on to make the winning move of the race by the conclusion of the second lap. Still Van der Poel waited for his moment to pounce, and it was his trade teammate Vermeersch who put the hammer down at the start of lap three in a bid to string out the leaders.

As they rounded the pits Van der Poel accelerated for the first time and immediately established a 14-second gap as the chasers scrambled to mount a comeback.

Kamp briefly held second place with Vermeersch and Orts in close contention but out front, Van der Poel looked almost effortless as he buttressed his lead to over a minute.

By the fifth lap the battle for the final podium places began to really heat up with Orts taking the initiative and moving clear by roughly three seconds. The Spanish rider's lead wasn't to last, however, with Vermeersch taking second place on the final lap and holding on to a slender margin before Orts dived through to complete the podium ahead of Kamp.