Death, taxes & Van der Poel solos! Another epic display hands world champion dominant World Cup Gavere win
Cyclocross
They say there are no certainties in sport, but Mathieu van der Poel winning cyclocross races is seemingly as close to certain as things can get. Continuing his faultless start to the winter, the world champion has soloed to Boxing Day success in Gavere.
As is often the case when Mathieu van der Poel takes to the cross, the early exchanges of the fight were dominated by a sense of looming doom as the likes of Thibau Nys, Michael Vanthourenhout and Pim Ronhaar battled the for the front on lap 1, as the world champion bided his time in fourth at the end of the opening lap.
Although Ronhaar dropped away on lap 2, the trio of Nys, Vanthourenhout and Van der Poel continued to look relatively evenly matched. Early on lap 3 though, Van der Poel made his big move, attacking clear of his two companions and steadily building up an advantage of 26 seconds by the end of the third lap.
As the world champion just extended his advantage from there, riding further and further clear through the mid-race laps towards another dominant victory, the fight for second was really heating up between Nys and Vanthourenhout, pith the likes of Lars van der Haar not completely giving up hope of a podium finish either.
Even Van der Poel himself wasn't completely without error, coming down a couple of times at one certain section of the course. Given he had over 40 seconds advantage though, the Alpecin-Deceuninck superstar had given himself plenty of a buffer to allow for such small errors. In the battle for second meanwhile, Vanthourenhout was breaking free as Van der Haar passed teammate Nys to take third on the course.
As Van der Poel took the bell for the final lap, the difference between himself and Vanthourenhout was 32 seconds. In the end, that proved more than enough as Van der Poel took victory ahead of Vanthourenhout and Nys, who surged back past Van der Haar on a brilliant final lap.
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
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- My memories of Ivan Basso aren't good but I liked his sister Elisa ok.flyer07-11-2026
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