Mathieu van der Poel also makes competition bite in the sand in Koksijde, Ronhaar second for Van Aert

Thursday January 4, 2024 at 4:00 PM

Mathieu van der Poel remains undefeated in the current cross season. In the X2O Trophy Koksijde, Pim Ronhaar initially stayed close to him, but in the end the world champion won the sand cross with a big difference. Ronhaar came second, Wout van Aert third.

Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert faced each other one more time in Koksijde, before they both go to Spain for a training camp. The two will not meet again until December 21 in the cross-country race in Benidorm. In Koksijde, Van der Poel and Van Aert did not have to take Tom Pidcock into account. The Briton was absent from the fifth round of the X2O Trophy due to illness. Pim Ronhaar, Lars van der Haar and sand specialist Laurens Sweeck were present.

Van der Poel attack
The best start was for Van der Poel. Van Aert initially seemed to be in the mix, but just before the pack entered the field, he had moved up again. Sweeck was also on the outposts and he took the lead before his beloved sand arrived. On his wheel: Van Aert and Van der Poel. The latter waited a moment before launching his attack. He shot through the sand like a cheetah and immediately made a big gap.

Van Aert could not follow, while Sweeck also started to fall back. After one lap they were not the first pursuers. The closest attacker MVDP now listened to the name Pim Ronhaar. The Dutchman was seven seconds behind the world champion, Van Aert followed (with a bunch of riders in his wheel) six seconds later. The Belgian came through one lap later, 23 seconds behind Van der Poel, with Michael Vanthourenhout and Lars van der Haar – who had moved up considerably after a poor start – still with him.

Ronhaar doesn’t give up easily
In the meantime, Ronhaar continued to keep leader Van der Poel in sight. In fact, he didn’t lose a meter. After two rounds the margin was MVDP still only seven seconds. Did we (finally) get a duel? In the third round, Van der Poel doubled his lead, but Ronhaar could still hope for the time being. It was a different story for the third group – which Gianni Vermeersch was now also affiliated with. They were so far behind that third place seemed the highest possible.

In the battle for the last podium spot, Lars van der Haar took the initiative. While Vanthourenhout quickly had to pass in the fourth round, Van Aert also had a hard time. The Visma rider | Lease a Bike saw the Dutch champion ride away together with Vermeersch in a sandy strip. After that, Van der Haar continued alone. But at the end of round five he had someone in his corner again: the man who never gives up, Wout van Aert. The Visma rider | Lease a Bike would even leave Van der Haar in the next round and still took a podium place.

Van der Poel wins convincingly
In the last lap, Van Aert even came close to Pim Ronhaar, who had lost more ground on Van der Poel lap after lap. The Dutchman from Baloise Trek Lions was already more than a minute behind after six of the seven rounds MVDP. The world champion no longer had to make excessive efforts in the final round to achieve his ninth victory of the season. Ronhaar came second, Van Aert third.

X2O Trophy Koksijde
Result men
1. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in 59m21s
2. Pim Ronhaar (Baloise Trek Lions) on 1m20s
3. Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) at 1m43s
4. Lars van der Haar (Baloise Trek Lions) at 1m53s
5. Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck) on 2m12s
6. Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Corendon) on 2m46s
7. Joran Wyseure (Crelan-Corendon) in 3m04s
8. Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) at 3m10s
9. Jens Adams (Athletes for Hope) op 3m37s
10. Niels Vandeputte (Alpecin-Deceuninck) on 3m48s