Five in a row! Mathieu van der Poel victorious again at World Cup Besancon
Cyclocross
Mathieu van der Poel has won his final cyclocross of 2024 at the World Cup Besancon with yet another commanding display from the rainbow jersey wearer, defeating second place rider Toon Aerts, and Niels Vandeputte in third.
At the end of the first lap, Toon Aerts crossed the line first with Mathieu van der Poel lurking ominously on his wheel, with Felipe Orts a further seven seconds behind. And for much of the first 2 laps, Aerts was able to ride with the world champion, but when Van der Poel turned it on he very quickly pulled a gap.
At the end of lap 4, Van der Poel had a lead of 19 seconds from Toon Aerts and 26 seconds from Niels Vandeputte. Behind the leader, Eli Iserbyt climbed his way through the field after an incident filled lap one, but found himself back up fifth by lap 5. Iserbyt even managed to clock the same lap time as Van der Poel on the sixth lap, which shows how strong is legs were today.
Van der Poel had such a lead on lap 6 that he began to pull some tricks off whilst on the pump track early in the lap. Still, Aerts was not as far off the champion as many have been throughout this winter, as he finished 'just' 20 seconds behind.
But it's becoming more and more clear, that without bad luck Mathieu van der Poel will ease to his record equalling seventh cyclocross rainbow jersey, when the world championships come around in early February. Van der Poel just has more power, skill and talent than anyone else right now, but what can the rest of the field possibly do to close the gap? Next up for the field is the Superprestige Diegem, with that race taking place tomorrow.
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