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Wout van Aert wins epic rollercoaster ride in Benidorm as Mathieu van der Poel's winning run ends

Cyclocross
by Kieran Wood
Monday, 22 January 2024 at 09:44
woutvanaert 5
The penultimate round of UCI World Cup action this winter was surely one of the most thrilling of the whole season. After an action-packed race, Wout van Aert was the man who crossed the line with his arms aloft.
Although the all-conquering world champion, Mathieu van der Poel started as he often does, as a heavy favourite, the Dutchman was in difficulty early on in Benidorm. Having problems with his chain, van der Poel finished lap 1 in 19th place.

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With van der Poel having to navigate his way back through the pack, his old rival, Wout van Aert was attempting to do the early front running. They say that you can't keep a champion down though and that proved true here as with just three laps gone, van der Poel had already made his way back to the head of the race.  As van der Poel and van Aert accelerated, only Thibau Nys was able to keep pace initially, although after he hit the deck, Tom Pidcock and Michael Vanthourenhout took over the chase. 
At they began lap 6, Pidcock actually had eked out a narrow lead at the front of the race but the Brit was unable to keep it as the quartet were all back together to start lap 7. With the pace then dropping completely, more and more riders got back into contact and with two laps to go, 10 men were together at the front.  Disaster then struck again for van der Poel as he crashed coming out of the sandpit. Although he was quickly back up, van Aert sensed an opportunity and put the power on.
With one lap to go, van der Poel was down in 10th, 23 seconds behind van Aert who had been joined at the front by Vanthourenhout. On the final lap, it was van Aert who asserted his authority on the proceedings, riding clear of Vanthourenhout and taking the victory for himself. 

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