Another day another dominant cross victory for Mathieu van der Poel at Exact Cross Loenhout

On his mother's birthday day, Mathieu van der Poel took a brilliant solo victory at Exact Cross Loenhout in the typical, now-expected, dominant fashion despite incredibly muddy conditions.

In a disastrous start for many, around half the peloton was caught up in a crash almost as soon as the race got underway. Once the dust settled, somewhat unsurprisingly, Mathieu van der Poel came to the fore. He didn't have it all his own way this time however, at least not initially.

Attacking at the end of lap 3, van der Poel quickly extended into a big lead. By the time the penultimate lap began, things were looking incredibly easy for the world champion with a chasing trio of Felipe Orts, Ryan Kamp and Gianni Vermeersch around 40 seconds behind.

With van der Poel's victory assured, the battle for the rest of the podium was fierce. Eventually though, it was Vermeersch who took second with third going to Orts.