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The battle between previous world champion Mathieu Van der Poel (Beobank-Corendon) and incumbent Wout van Aert (Crelan-Vastgoedservice) continues to rage across the Telenet UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup calendar with Van der Poel once again getting the better of the two in Europe.
The 21-year-old Dutch champion made it two straight at Namur, Belgium on Sunday – his third straight World Cup victory since the series returned to Europe following van Aert’s back-to-back wins in the US to kick off the season.
Van Aert continually fought back time gaps after suffering three crashes before the halfway mark. The 22-year-old chased down Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea), Laurens Sweeck (Era-MurProtec), two-time winner Kevin Pauwels (Marlux-Napoleon Games) and the race leader, and eventually found himself on the front with just over a lap to go. Unfortunately it was too little too late as Van der Poel was able to outmaneuver van Aert on the final off-cambers to take a gap and ride off for the win.
With Koksijde called off last month due to extreme weather, Van der Poel now leads the series 3-2, van Aert remains top of the overall points lead with 370 with fellow Belgians Kevin Pauwels (294) and Laurens Sweeck (279) trailing in second and third respectively. Van der Poel is seventh on points with 240.
Earlier in the day, Katerina Nash (CZE) won the elite women’s race to give her a second win in Namur in three years. While Joris Nieuwenhuis (NED) crossed the line ahead of Belgians Quinten Hermans and Thijs Aerts to take the win in the men’s under-23 division.
Results
- 1. Mathieu VAN DER POEL, (NED), 1:04:20
- 2. Wout VAN AERT, (BEL), 1:04:36
- 3. Kevin PAUWELS, (BEL), 1:04:47
- 4. Tom MEEUSEN, (BEL), 1:05:28
- 5. Laurens SWEECK, (BEL), 1:05:42
- 6. Corne VAN KESSEL, (NED), 1:05:52
- 7. Toon AERTS, (BEL), 1:05:57
- 8. Michael VANTHOURENHOUT, (BEL), 1:06:08
- 9. Marcel MEISEN, (GER), 1:06:53
- 10. Klaas VANTORNOUT, (BEL), 1:07:04
- 11. Gianni VERMEERSCH, (BEL), 1:07:09
- 12. Michael BOROS, (CZE), 1:07:10
- 13. Philipp WALSLEBEN, (GER), 1:07:26
- 14. Severin SÄGESSER, (SUI), 1:07:30
- 15. Jens ADAMS, (BEL), 1:07:36
- 16. Tim MERLIER, (BEL), 1:07:43
- 17. Ismael ESTEBAN AGUANDO, (ESP), 1:07:49
- 18. Vincent BAESTAENS, (BEL), 1:08:12
- 19. Stephen HYDE, (USA), 1:08:16
- 20. Dieter VANTHOURENHOUT, (BEL), 1:08:24
- 21. Stan GODRIE, (NED), 1:08:29
- 22. Nicola ROHRBACH, (SUI), 1:08:41
- 23. Diether SWEECK, (BEL), 1:08:46
- 24. Javier RUIZ DE LARRINAGA IBAÑEZ, (ESP), 1:08:48
- 25. Lukas WINTERBERG, (SUI), 1:08:55
- 26. Martin HARING, (SVK), 1:09:08
- 27. Daan SOETE, (BEL), 1:09:29
- 28. Jim AERNOUTS, (BEL), 1:09:37
- 29. David VAN DER POEL, (NED), 1:09:40
- 30. Sascha WEBER, (GER), 1:09:42
- 31. Patrick VAN LEEUWEN, (NED), 1:09:49
- 32. Simon ZAHNER, (SUI), 1:09:51
- 33. Francis MOUREY, (FRA), 1:10:11
- 34. Melvin RULLIERE, (FRA), DNF
- 35. Marcel WILDHABER, (SUI), DNF
- 36. Geoff KABUSH, (CAN), DNF
- 37. Alois FALENTA, (FRA), DNF
- 38. Daan HOEYBERGHS, (BEL), DNF
- 39. Lorenzo SAMPARISI, (ITA), DNF
- 40. Niels WUBBEN, (NED), DNF
- 41. Enrico FRANZOI, (ITA), DNF
- 42. Luca BRAIDOT, (ITA), DNF
- 43. Daniele BRAIDOT, (ITA), DNF
- 44. Thijs VAN AMERONGEN, (NED), DNF
- 45. Andreas MOSER, (SUI), DNF
- 46. Kevin SUAREZ FERNANDEZ, (ESP), DNF
- 47. Felix DRUMM, (GER), DNF
- 48. Michael WILDHABER, (SUI), DNF
- 49. Nicolas SAMPARISI, (ITA), DNF
- 50. Marvin SCHMIDT, (GER), DNF
- 51. Mark MCCONNELL, (CAN), DNF
- 52. Asier ARREGUI DOMINGUEZ, (ESP), DNF
- 53. Wolfram KURSCHAT, (GER), DNF
- 54. Eric THOMPSON, (USA), DNF
- 55. Vincent DIAS DOS SANTOS, (LUX), DNF