Dutch champion Mathieu van der Poel (Beobank-Corendon) won the rain-soaked eighth and final round of the DVV Trophy in Lille, Belgium on Saturday. The 22-year-old came away with the victory after a race-long duel with world champion Wout Van Aert (Crelan-Charles), who won the sprint for second place at short distance. It was more than enough for home rider Van Aert to claim his third consecutive overall win in the DVV Trophy series. Tom Meeusen (Telenet Fidea Lions) claimed the final podium spot at the recreational park in Lille.
"It was a battle on the razor's edge. It was great fun. Before the race I was asked in which way I liked winning the most and this is it," Van der Poel said in the post-race flash interview with Sporza. The season is nearly over and Van der Poel is up to 18 victories.
"It would be nice to get up to 20 wins amongst the pro riders. That's what you dream of as a little boy," Van der Poel added.
ADVERTISEMENT
For eight laps, Van der Poel and Van Aert were pushing each other to the limit, making up for the disappointing world championships race of last weekend. This time, no mechanical problems bothered the riders and on the fast course it was hard to create gaps. Van der Poel didn't mind and tried anyway to create gaps straight from the start. After one lap on full gas, Van Aert was trailing his Dutch rival by five seconds with Tom Meeusen marking his wheel. A few moments later, Van der Poel's first attack ended when he overhit a corner and missed a fly-over. The pace dropped and during the third lap six riders were featuring in front: Van der Poel, Van Aert, Meeusen and Telenet Fidea Lions teammates Lars van der Haar and Corné van Kessel and Marlux-Napoleon Games' Kevin Pauwels.
In the following two laps, Van der Poel was putting Van Aert in the hurt box, probably hurting himself and the others too. Just before reaching the finishing straight of the circuit, Van der Poel would gap Van Aert at a technical section of twists and turns. Each time, Van der Poel went full gas on the road and forced Van Aert to chase in the first sections of the following lap. At the end of the sixth lap, Van der Poel ended a long acceleration. It allowed Van Aert, Meeusen and Van der Haar to bridge back up; Pauwels was at short distance. Once on the finishing straight again, Van der Haar blasted away and again Van Aert was leading the chase.
Van der Haar was caught back halfway through the penultimate lap but powered away again in the sand. This time, Van Aert bluffed and looked at Van der Poel. The latter moved forward and close the gap.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://ift.tt/2kAzaAQ
No comments:
Post a Comment