Where the eye puts the bullet, and this Friday the Belgian Mathieu Van der Poel (29 years) reigned again in the mud, in this case the beautiful circuit of Exact Cross Loenhout-Azencross (Belgium)full of fans and had the privilege of seeing the return to the competition of the Belgian Wout Van Aert after the heavy crash he suffered at La Vuelta.
As was the case with the last CX test, Van der Poel He delivered the final blow to the competition on the fourth lap, soloing and maintaining an appropriate margin over his pursuers. It did not even fall when negotiating a curve that did not look good for Van der Poel to achieve a new victory, the fourth in a row in the four events he has held this cyclocross season, on a circuit known that he knows, where he already won five times this Friday and has everything a good CX fan wants: mud, boards, big walking sections, the proximity of the public…
If victory is clear, podium positions are not. For a good part of the seven laps that made up the race, second place went to the Belgian Laurence Sweckuntil his countrymen caught him from behind Thibay Nys and Wout Van Aert.
These runners had a great fight, much to the frenzy of the fans Van Aert He fell to the ground on a slippery floor and, while negotiating a sharp curve outside, half fell and got caught in an advertising billboard. This incident has been relegated to Visma team in fourth place, while next to the finish line Nys said He has already lost the sprint Sweeckin an unusual last CX luck, to occupy second place.
RESULT
1. Mathieu Van der Poel (PB/Alpecin-Deceunick) 58’11”
2.Thibau Nys (BEL/BaloiseTrek Lions) at 14″
3.Laurens Sweeck (BEL/Crelan-Corendon) at 15″
4.Wout Van Aert (BEL/Visma-Lease a Bike) at 36″
5.Niels Vandeputte (BEL/Alpecin-Deceunick) at 1’09”
After this race, Van der Poel will compete on Sunday at Besançon with views of cyclocross world championshipwho have won the last two years for a total of six victories (2015, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024), to be played in Liévin (France) on the weekend of February 1 and 2. Mathieu plans to compete in a total of eleven races before the World Cup. He has played the first four and they have won.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Robert Maynard, and I am a passionate journalist with experience in sports writing. For the last few years, I have been writing for Today Times Live. My main focus has been on sports-related stories and features. With my strong background in journalism and extensive knowledge of the industry, I am able to provide readers with well-crafted pieces that are both informative and engaging.
