The day after his success in Antwerp, Mathieu van der Poel once again achieved a solo victory during the World Cup round organized in Koksijde. Laurens Sweeck and Tibor del Grosso complete the podium.
The days follow one another and are the same for Mathieu van der Poel. Winner this Saturday in Antwerp for his second cyclo-cross race of the winter, the world champion of the discipline did not let anyone win during the World Cup stage contested in the sand of Koksijde. On a track where he was able to establish himself very early in his career, the grandson of Raymond Poulidor did not leave the slightest hope to his opponents by isolating himself in the lead very early on. Indeed, if the European champion Toon Aerts was able to get the best start, he immediately saw a group forming around him.
Tibor del Grosso, Laurens Sweeck, Niels Vandeputte and the inevitable Mathieu van der Poel took their place there. The latter then kept the wheel without taking too many risks. Faced with an error by Laurens Sweeck and a fall by Toon Aerts, the three riders of the Alpecin-Deceuninck team found themselves alone at the front and the wearer of the rainbow jersey took advantage of the situation to accelerate. After being able to follow his leader for a while, Tibor del Gross gave up on the fourth lap to leave “MVDP” alone at the head of the race. From there, the die was cast for victory.
Sweeck settles for second place
Behind the seven-time world champion, the race for second place saw Laurens Sweeck give everything on the last lap to make the difference against Niels Vandeputte and Tibor del Grosso. The World Cup leader and defending champion on the Koksijde circuit had the last word against the Belgian and the Dutch champion. Mathieu van der Poel was able to enjoy his fourteenth victory in a row in cyclo-cross in the final straight, he who has not been beaten since January 21, 2024 in Benidorm. He won with a seven-second lead over Laurens Sweeck when Niels Vandeputte completed the podium thirteen seconds behind. On the French side, Théo Thomas takes 19th place almost four minutes behind the winner.
