Supreme Mathieu van der Poel records tenth consecutive victory in the Zonhoven World Cup

Sunday January 7, 2024 at 4:10 PM

A ten with a pencil for the start of the season by Mathieu van der Poel in cyclo-cross. In the Zonhoven World Cup, the world champion also managed to win his tenth cross of this winter. It was still exciting for the first twenty minutes, but after a serious attack it was over MVDP away and continued to expand his lead.

Without Wout van Aert (training camp) and Tom Pidcock (ill), all eyes in the ice-cold Zonhoven were of course focused on Mathieu van der Poel. The world champion had to come from the second row, behind Eli Iserbyt, who had returned from illness. Van der Poel got off to a good start and dived into the famous Kuil van Zonhoven for the first time behind Laurens Sweeck, Iserbyt and Joris Nieuwenhuis.

There was bad luck for Cameron Mason, who got into trouble and immediately threw in the towel. A large leading group emerged at the front, from which Nieuwenhuis, Van der Poel and Sweeck broke away at the end of the opening lap. Some riders came back from the background, opening up the race. Notably absent at the front was Lars van der Haar, who was racing around eleventh place, well behind.

Once again Van der Poel’s attack is inadequate
We had to wait for Mathieu van der Poel to attack. That followed after 24 minutes of competition, in the fourth round of eight. With a serious acceleration he opened a small gap, after which he was the first to dive into the Kuil van Zonhoven and also drove out with an explosion of power. All pursuers had to dismount, so he immediately took a big lead.

In no time the gap was 20 seconds, although Nieuwenhuis was still able to pull away from that group including Pim Ronhaar, Toon Vandebosch, Emiel Verstrynge and Sweeck. Thibau Nys was also in the race, but he dropped out due to bad luck. At the front there was clearly no size for Van der Poel, who was like a child in a toy store on the technical course of Zonhoven.

Three rounds before the end MVDP half a minute ahead of a group with Nieuwenhuis, Sweeck, Ronhaar and Vandebosch and he steadily expanded that advantage. The duos of Baloise Trek Lions and Crelan-Corendon competed for the two podium places next to the world champion, but Vandebosch eliminated himself in the penultimate lap due to a crash in the Kuil.

The massive crowd in Zonhoven gave the dominant Van der Poel a grand ovation in the final round, but the tension was behind it. Ronhaar took the initiative in the battle for second place, but Sweeck and Nieuwenhuis did not give up. The latter took over the lead in the difficult final phase and put Sweeck in a gap. At the cutting edge, second place went to Nieuwenhuis, ahead of Sweeck and Ronhaar.

For Mathieu van der Poel it is his tenth victory in a row this season. The world champion also won all ten races he competed in. After this weekend he will take a period of rest from cross-country to train on the road towards the Cyclo-Cross World Championships and the classic spring. He will get on the cross bike again in the Benidorm World Cup.

Cyclocross World Cup Zonhoven 2024
Result men
1. Mathieu van der Poel
2. Joris Nieuwenhuis
3. Laurens Sweeck
4. Pim Ronhaar
5. Toon Vandebosch
6. That is, Iserbyt

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Mathieu van der Poel