Mathieu van der Poel took his second World Cup victory in round #8 at the UCI World Cup Cyclo-Cross in Antwerp, Belgium on Sunday. Rounding out the podium was rival Wout van Aert in 2nd, and Michael Vanthourenhout in 3rd. World Champion Tom Pidcock got off to a bad start and never really found his rhythm and finished eighth.
How It Happened
On lap 1, Wout van Aert took the lead followed by Lars van der Haar and Mathieu van der Poel. World Champion, Tom Pidcock, who won the previous day’s Super Prestige event, got off to a bad start and was outside the top 20 in the first lap.
In lap 2, van der Poel came to the front followed by van Aert, van der Haar, Sweecks, and Vanthourenhout. It wasn’t long before van der Poel forced a gap that grew to 10 seconds and the race became a contest between van der Poel and van Aert.
By lap 3, van der Poel had 12 seconds on closest his rivals, van Aert and Vanthourenhout. An effort by Vanthourenhout to take up the chase was short-lived and van Aert retook the lead chase position. Van der Poel’s lead grew to 20 seconds before van Aert was able to react and pull in a few seconds.
At the start of lap 4, van der Poel had only 13 seconds on van Aert, but it was clear that van Aert was not going to be able to match van der Poel’s power and make any gains. Behind, Vanthourenhout dropped off the pace and was now in third place, 5 seconds behind van Aert.
In the final three laps – laps 5, 6, 7 – van der Poel worked efficiently through the sand and extended his lead to 29 seconds over van Aert. Errors for both riders were few, except for van Aert’s lap 6 tumble over one of the last barriers. Lap 7 saw van der Poel maintain his pace without taking risks and cross the line 23 seconds ahead of van Aert.
Race Insights
The Big 3. Van der Poel is in great shape and has been very quick in getting back his ‘cross skills. Van Aert also had an impressive first ride, but showed that his fitness and skills are not yet on par with van der Poel’s. Tom Pidcock was impressive in the past weeks, but he seemed to struggle in Sunday’s race and just couldn’t manage to move up in the same way he had in previous races. Fatigue from Saturday’s race and a race that didn’t quite suit his style of racing, as was hinted at by Pidcock before the race, could have contributed to his mediocre placing.
Six races remain in the World Cup and we’ll see the Big 3 – van der Poel, van Aert, and Pidcock – battling it out in more races this December. However, we may not see them so much beyond the new year. Early season ambitions on the road will start to conflict with the World Cup cyclo-cross schedule come January and riders will have to make some hard decisions. Either way, there’s still some great racing left between the Big 3, as well as those racing for the overall World Cup.
