History in Lievin! Mathieu van der Poel obliterates the field to take record-equalling 7th CX World Championship title - Wout van Aert a distant 2nd
CyclocrossMonday, 03 February 2025 at 10:18
Cyclocross history has been made in Lievin! Mathieu van der Poel has taken the win at the 2025 World Championships, absolutely dominating the field from the first lap to secure a record-equalling 7th Rainbow Jersey victory. The much-anticipated dual between Van der Poel and Wout van Aert never really materialised though, as the Belgian took a distant 2nd place.
After a frantic start, it was Belgium's Toon Aerts who led through the opening corner. It didn't take long for the familiar figure of Mathieu van der Poel to get himself to the front though, trying to make the most of the fact Wout van Aert was already caught in traffic after having started on the 4th row. By the end of the opening lap, Van der Poel had already managed to force a 20 second lead on 2nd placed Laurens Sweeck, with Van Aert 46 seconds down in 16th with one lap down.
Van Aert was definitely working his way through the field crossing the line for the end of lap 2 in 7th, but any hopes of a Rainbow Jersey already looked slim as Van der Poel just continued to accelerate away from the pack, extending his lead to around 45 seconds. Early on lap 3, Van Aert latched onto the chasing group, joining compatriots Michael Vanthourenhout, Thibau Nys, Laurens Sweeck and Emiel Verstrynge, plus Dutchman Joris Nieuwenhuis. As they crossed the line for the end of lap 3, Van Aert made his next attack, moving clear of the chase group and beginning his charge into the 46 second gap to Van der Poel.
As Van der Poel continued to sail clear solo, Van Aert and Nieuwenhuis were locked in an exciting battle for 2nd, as they traded the advantage with every pit change. On lap 5 though, Van Aert began to finally shake the Dutchman off of his back wheel and secure his 2nd play on the course. By the end of the lap, Nieuwenhuis did have Belgian company though, as Thibau Nys joined him in the race for the 3rd spot on the podium.
With the gold and the silver medals looking certain at the end of lap 6 as Van der Poel crossed 1:01 up on Van Aert, who in turn was 31 seconds clear of Nieuwenhuis and Nys, the battle for the bronze was looking like the only bit of drama left to be decided. With the two leaders managing to safely navigate the final few laps, it was Nys that was winning the race for third.
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- I'm not frustrated, I'm simply tired of having to read your bloviating, ill-advised comments in response to almost every article posted on this site. I will grant that at you're not as offensive as some of the subhuman right-wing cretins who feel compelled to display their asinine beliefs at every turn. So you've got that going for you.verve82518-05-2025
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- Enigmatic as ever. He only cares about the jersey on one day: the last one. He knows better than anyone what it means to assume too much too soon.RidesHills18-05-2025
- I can't believe he even made it back to the professional level. It's so good to hear his name called again in a Grand Tour. His Tour de France podium speech was one of the most gracious I can recall in many years.
Barney17-05-2025 - Sometimes I am, you’re right. Seems like a waste of time to live life on the toilet. Do you feel better now you’ve managed to unload some of your frustration on a completely anonymous poster?Mistermaumau17-05-2025
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- Good news. I’ve done two weeks of riding there between 1200-2200 and never once noticed being at altitude (but did see benefits upon returning) except on a hike after the two weeks feeling a little nauseous half an hour around 3400 but then nothing anymore all the way up to 4500. I once heard altitude sensations are less intense near the equator but can’t find much to support that.Mistermaumau17-05-2025
Tough break for Wout. If you rip your shorts open in cyclocross, you went down hard. He showed a lot of character pushing through that and back to the front.
I was surprised not to see any friendly smiles between him and MVDP, who shared a bit of friendly banter with Nys. All 3 had amazing days, in their different ways.
how did he rip his bibs? i’m wondering. yeah he did something somewhere
Wow! Is this form going to transfer to the road? Or is Wout going to set the record straight? Can't wait to see how this road season will play out.
Wout won CX 3 year’s running, not sure this is that great form (compared to his usual preparation) and let’s not forget 2 things, an hour of CX doesn’t require the ssme preparation as 6-8 hour road races or GCs, BUT building up for a CX in haste could hamper the continued build-up for the road if he didn’t carefully prepare a base before. With all his injuries may e shortcuts were taken along the way that will be paid in the long run. But as long as he’s not sneakily working towards a GC bid (I still won’t put it past him to try), he should be fine.
MVDP put in an excellent and flawless performance in capturing yet another world title, but I think that the ride of the day belonged to Wout for riding all of the way from dead last to second place after his incident on the first lap. That was very impressive.
Yes, he made a great effort, however, nobody is considering how much more MVDP might have been able to pull out the bag had he been pushed.
for sure. just that last lap, for example. van der poel was way off the gas, just making sure he didn’t make any major mistakes.