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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- Its everyman for himself at UAE if no Pogi. This was the case since last 3 yearsabstractengineer10-05-2025
- That is some very unfortunate news for Mikel Landa. Thankfully his injuries weren't worse than they are, and he'll eventually heal from this.
santiagobenites10-05-2025 - Wout is an absolute warrior. Trek bossed them all. And JV was nowhere. That being said Id love to see wout winning he’s such a good guy. The giro is long so here’s hoping. I don’t like this article that he should be happy with 2ndmij10-05-2025
- Ineos pretend Thymen's loss is not a big deal, but I don't think this is a good sign. I hope Bernal is fit, would be good for him to have another shot at normal life.Ride197410-05-2025
- To finish second to Mads Petersen in a photo finish, after such a chaotic first stage where Lidl-Trek controlled the race to perfection, while the Visma team was conspicuouly absent, is nothing to be ashamed about. During the interview, Wout was visibly spent, more so than Mads.. but I felt he was more a victor than a loser, given the circumstances. I'm excited to see what Wout will do in this Giro.FredMan10-05-2025
- I feel for Spain. Landa was one of their only two realistic GC hopes.Ride197410-05-2025
- Since the TT has a lot of sharp turns, does that perhaps play in Mads' favor, since he can sprint out of corners faster than many?Ride197410-05-2025
- The point of the article is well taken. Don’t judge a riders grand tour results after one stage. But he is slowly becoming a regular second.mij10-05-2025
- I’m disagreeing with the headline and tone of the article. I don’t even see Wout quoted. And he doesn’t offer excuses. My comment stands. He has no wins in his cobbled monuments. And is second too many times. And shouldn’t accept these results.mij10-05-2025
- Hey, Wout is one of the least excuse seeking riders out there, read the article again and let’s wait and see over the 3 weeks. Also a bad sign if you’re willing to give up on him faster than himself.Mistermaumau09-05-2025
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.