Zeven: Van der Poel powers to fifth round World Cup victory

Published November 26, 2016 12:57PM

Not even a broken bike could keep Mathieu van der Poel (Beobank-Corendon) from claiming the fifth round of the elite men’s Telenet UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Zeven, Germany an hour after Belgian national champion Sanne Cant took out the elite women’s race on Saturday.

The 21-year-old Dutchman was forced to change bikes after snapping his spokes and damaging his rear derailleur due to a first lap collision with another rider in the opening lap. The accident dropped van der Poel to 19th place — 20 seconds behind the leaders.

Top 10

Series leader Wout van Aert (Crelan-Vastgoedservice) took early control of the race after passing first lap leader Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea) on lap 2. However, a surging van der Poel blistered the field and caught van Aert at the race’s halfway point.

The former world champion never looked back and in a 41-second swing, defeated his 22-year-old Belgian rival by 21 seconds with an overall time of 1:03:21.

The victory gives van der Poel his second World Cup win of the season after also capturing Valkenburg in October. However, van Aerts’ North American wins at CrossVegas (Nevada) and Jingle Cross (Iowa), along with two second-place finishes, keeps the reigning world champion in first place overall.

Van der Poel was openly critical of the UCI’s decision to cancel the fourth round in Koksidje, Belgium due to extreme weather conditions, and even made the decision to ride home from the cancelled event.

The 2016/2017 World Cup series continues with the next race schedule for the famous Citadelle de Namur in Belgium on December 18.

Results

1. Mathieu VAN DER POEL, (NED), 1:03:21

2. Wout VAN AERT, (BEL), 1:03:42

3. Kevin PAUWELS, (BEL), 1:03:52

4. Tom MEEUSEN, (BEL), 1:04:14

5. Clement VENTURINI, (FRA), 1:04:29

6. Laurens SWEECK, (BEL), 1:04:45

7. Corne VAN KESSEL, (NED), 1:04:53

8. Gianni VERMEERSCH, (BEL), 1:04:59

9. Michael VANTHOURENHOUT, (BEL), 1:05:14

10. Marcel MEISEN, (GER), 1:05:20

11. Jens ADAMS, (BEL), 1:05:21

12. Toon AERTS, (BEL), 1:05:23

13. Tim MERLIER, (BEL), 1:05:24

14. David VAN DER POEL, (NED), 1:05:24

15. Jim AERNOUTS, (BEL), 1:05:43

16. Vincent BAESTAENS, (BEL), 1:05:48

17. Michael BOROS, (CZE), 1:05:49

18. Diether SWEECK, (BEL), 1:05:50

19. Dieter VANTHOURENHOUT, (BEL), 1:06:08

20. Klaas VANTORNOUT, (BEL), 1:06:17

21. Sascha WEBER, (GER), 1:06:29

22. Julien TARAMARCAZ, (SUI), 1:06:30

23. Marcel WILDHABER, (SUI), 1:06:31

24. Stan GODRIE, (NED), 1:06:32

25. Daan SOETE, (BEL), 1:06:36

26. Rob PEETERS, (BEL), 1:07:08

27. Thijs AMERONGEN, (NED), 1:07:11

28. Jan NESVADBA, (CZE), 1:07:15

29. Simon ZAHNER, (SUI), 1:07:16

30. Stephen HYDE, (USA), 1:07:26

31. Daan HOEYBERGHS, (BEL), 1:07:33

32. Kevin SUAREZ FERNANDEZ, (ESP), 1:07:35

33. Matthieu BOULO, (FRA), 1:07:51

34. Tomas PAPRSTKA, (CZE), 1:08:02

35. Severin SÄGESSER, (SUI), 1:08:06

36. Martin HARING, (SVK), 1:08:16

37. Patrick LEEUWEN, (NED), 1:08:19

38. Radomir SIMUNEK, (CZE), 1:08:33

39. Javier RUIZ DE LARRINAGA IBANEZ, (ESP), 1:08:40 21

40. Niels WUBBEN, (NED), DNF

41. Alois FALENTA, (FRA), DNF

42. Ivan GICQUIAU, (FRA), DNF

43. Yannick GRUNER, (GER), DNF

44. Philipp WALSLEBEN, (GER), DNF

45. Lorenzo SAMPARISI, (ITA), DNF

46. Kenneth HANSEN, (DEN), DNF

47. Jeremy POWERS, (USA), DNF

48. Vincent DIAS DOS SANTOS, (LUX), DNF

49. Max LINDENAU, (GER), DNF

50. Gusty BAUSCH, (LUX), DNF

51. Emil HEKELE, (CZE), DNF

52. Michal MALÍK, (CZE), DNF

53. Nicolas SAMPARISI, (ITA), DNF

54. CLEMENT BOMME, (FRA), DNF

55. Scott THILTGES, (LUX), DNF

56. Lex REICHLING, (LUX), DNF

57. Christian HELMIG, (LUX), DNF

58. Ole QUAST, (GER), DNF

59. Wolfram KURSCHAT, (GER), DNF

60. Marvin SCHMIDT, (GER), DNF

61. Morten LAUSTSEN, (DEN), DNF

62. Pit SCHLECHTER, (LUX), DNF

63. Philipp HEIGL, (AUT), DNF

64. Ingvar OMARSSON, (ISL), DNF