Mathieu van der Poel dominates yet again at UCI World Cup - Koksijde
Mathieu van der Poel made it three wins from three in his winter cyclocross campaign, taking victory at the UCI Cyclocross World Cup round in Koksijde, Belgium.
Van der Poel had a smooth start, with Tibor Del Grosso dictating the pace in the early part of the seven lap race, building a marginal gap over Laurens Sweeck and Mathieu van der Poel.
That was until one of the main sand sections, of which there are multiple on the famous Koksijde course, where Van der Poel blitzed through the sand to go and join his Alpecin Deceuninck teammate, Tibor Del Grosso, soon after joined by the UCI World Cup leader, Laurens Sweeck.
After the first lap, Del Grosso, Toon Aerts, Sweeck, Van der Poel and Niels Vandeputte were the five riders remaining at the head of the race, with a cohort of riders slightly further behind.
Around a minute and a half into the second lap, it was blast off for the world champion, Van der Poel, as he motored away into the horizon. The chasers behind were left to try and close him down. The best of them was Sweeck, who really was mastering the sand dunes, which allowed him to ride back to Van der Poel.
It was to be a much more difficult task for Van der Poel in Koksijde, as the earlier mentioned riders came to join him once again as the riders began the third lap.
During the third lap, Tibor Del Grosso pushed on further, similar to the opening lap, and appeared strong, demonstrating tremendous bike handling skills, with his Alpecin Deceuninck teammate Van der Poel a few lengths behind as the group began to whittle down.
Taking the race to the fourth lap, it was an Alpecin top three with Vandeputte, Del Grosso, and Van der Poel, who looked likely to make up the podium, on what was a real attritional course. The fatigue was starting to show for several riders, with Van der Poel shooting off into the distance once more and having significant daylight, completing the 4th lap in 7:43, almost 30 seconds faster than his prior lap.
The battle for the podium became the one for spectators to enjoy if they didn't enjoy Van der Poel's phenomenal exhibition. Del Grosso was still excelling, and he was joined by Sweeck, with a smaller group just behind the pair.
Van der Poel heard the bell and continued to romp home on his exhibition for yet another winter victory. Wrapping up the podium was Laurens Sweeck in second and Niels Vandeputte in third, who both overtook Del Grosso.
