Mathieu van der Poel celebrates his win in Kಞoksijde(Image credit: Getty Images)
Ronhaar, Van der Poel and Van Aert on the podium(Image credit: Getty Images)
Mathieu Van der Poel 🦩took the lead on the first lap and never relented(Image credit: Getty Images)
Mathieu Van der Poel on the dunes of Koksijde(Image credit: Getty Images)
Wout van Aert leads the chase behind Pim Ronhaar(Image credit: Getty Images)
Pim Ronhaar rode in second place for most🍌 of th♌e race(Image credit: Getty Images)
Wout van Aert on the run(Image credit: Getty Images)
Zdenek Stybar racing for his one-man team(Image credit: Getty Images)
How much more superior can Mathieu van der Poel be compared with the rest of the cyclocross peloton? At the X2O Trophy in Koksijde, the world champi🅰on cont🌱inued his succession of trouncings, taking his ninth straight victory in an undefeated streak for the season.
In his other appearances this season, Van der Poel has prevailed by 1:55 in Baal, 12 seconds in Hulst, 39 in Loenhout, 49 in Di🌜egem, 36 in Gavere, 29 in Antwerp, 1:17 in Mol, and 28 seconds in Herentals.
The gap was nearly as large in Koksijde after Van der Poel's first-lap attack and power ride through the sand. Pim Ronhaar (Baloise Trek) continued his ascent in stature, taking second at 1:20 and holding off a late chase from Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a B෴ike), who finished third at 1:38.
Lars van der Haar (Baloise Tre💫k) provided the most late-race excitement in h💟is battle for the lower podium spot with Van Aert but had to relent when the Belgian put in his acceleration on the penultimate lap.
Up front van der Poel had time to high-five ꦗthe crowd and celebrate his nine from nꦐine winning streak.
"I went to the 🐽front at the end of lap 1 and I did two really good sand sections and I immediately had a really nice gap. I tried to take my own pace from the start because it's a super tough race," he said post-race.
"It's difficult to recover now with the mud section between tꦑhe sand sections which made it a really hard course."
In the start line all eyes were on v🐓an der Poel and Van Aert, while Tom Pidcock (Ineos) was out with illn♋ess.
Van der Poel shot out fast fr🌳om the green light but Van Aert got around to lead into the first sand climb. Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Corendon) was keen to challenge and took the lead into the first trip over the dun꧒e.
Sweeck con𒀰tinued to lead as the other favourites seem💫ed to not want to burn matches too early in such a tough parcours.
The hesitation wasn't for long, and Van der Poel took the l🔯ead before the longer climb over the dune with Van Aert unable to follow, and Sweeck dropping back to the chasing group. After overcooking a turn, Van Aert then dropped back behind a flying Pim Ronhaar (Baloise Trek) in the muddy s✤ection.
Van der Poel already had seven seconds on Ronhaar and Van Aert back at 13 seconds, joined by Joran Wyseure, Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck) with Sweeck, Niels Vandeputte and Michael ꦡVanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) about to latch on.
Van der Poe✱l rode the steep sandy run-up with ease, Ronhaar matched his pace but Van Aert had to grab onto the course-side banners to keep his momentum in a section that presaged the rest of the race. The differences were 🧸subtle but significant.
The world champion and Ronhaar continued to be superior on the sandy climbs and came to the line at theꦕ end of lap 2 only six seconds apart, while the rest lost ground at 22 seconds.
Lars van der Haar, the series leader, joined the chase at the end of lap three while Ronhaar began to fade. He ended the next circuit at 16 seconds from the leader, while Van der Haar led Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Van Aert and Vanthourenhout acros✃s the line at 49 seconds.
It see♓med another blow-out was on hand with the race n൩ot even halfway done.
Yet any challenge from Van Aert evaporated as he appeared to lack the skills an꧑d power to ride the dunes like van der Poel.
By the end of lap five, Van der Poel had sailed away to another huge advantage and then another 🎐victory. He is now nine from nin🅘e with his cyclocross campaign on track to finish with another world title in Tabor on February 4.
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Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news. As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, pa🅰ths and gravel tracks. Laura specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.
