Mathieu van der Poel storms to victory after retaining UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships elite men’s title in Tabor

Published 04/02/2024 at 16:50 GMT

Mathieu van der Poel continued his incredible cyclo-cross form with a sixth world title in the Czech Republic on Sunday afternoon. Fellow Dutchman Joris Nieuwenhuis finished 37 seconds adrift in second, while Belgian Michael Vanthourenhout completed the podium. Meanwhile, it was a special occasion for Czech rider Zdenek Stybar, who finished his career on home soil.

Highlights: Faultless Van der Poel storms to cyclo-cross World Championship victory

Mathieu van der Poel continued his stunning form by retaining the elite men’s title at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Tabor, Czech Republic.

Dutchman Van der Poel finished 37 seconds ahead of compatriot Joris Nieuwenhuis, while the podium was completed by Belgian Michael Vanthourenhout.

The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider has been hugely impressive off-road this season and moved to within one world title of Erik De Vlaeminck’s haul of seven following his latest victory.

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“It was the most important race of my cyclo-cross season so I’m happy to take the win,” said Van der Poel.

Van der Poel also had some warm words for Zdenek Stybar, who concluded his career with a 31st-place finish in front of a home crowd.

“He’s a super nice guy and I train a lot with him,” he added. “I hope he continues to train a bit so we can go together on rides.”

Van der Poel seized the initiative early on in a rampant start to the race, with Belgian Niels Vandeputte his nearest competitor in the opening exchanges.

He was briefly overtaken by Nieuwenhuis, before racing back into the lead just four minutes into the contest.

He held an eight-second lead over Nieuwenhuis following the opening lap, and was gradually building more ground to his fellow Dutchman.

The battle for third was much closer, with 10 riders separated by as many seconds in a keenly-contested battle for the final podium spot.

Vanthourenhout established himself as the leading contender for third alongside another Dutchman, Pim Ronhaar. Meanwhile, Eli Iserbyt and Thibau Nys were not much further behind

However, nobody could stop Van der Poel as he continued to extend his advantage over Nieuwenhuis, while Lars Van der Haar was the latest in a series of Dutchmen to make a challenge for third.

Nevertheless, Vanthourenhout and Ronhaar emerged as the main two contenders for third as the race wore on, but the former seemed to handle the course’s toughest sections with better aplomb to seize advantage.

Vanthourenhout sensed that second was within reach with only 12 seconds separating him from Nieuwenhuis heading into the final lap.

But Nieuwenhuis showed brilliant tactical nous and cemented the silver medal position with a masterful last lap.

None of the drama going on behind seemed to faze Van der Poel though, who cruised to victory ahead of Nieuwenhuis, as the latter won his first elite world cyclo-cross medal.

Vanthourenhout can reflect on what might have been, but received a deserved bronze for an impressive race after finishing 29 seconds behind Van der Poel.

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