World champion Wout Van Aert (Crelan-Charles) won the sixth round of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup at the citadel of Namur (Belgium), finishing more than a minute ahead of his first rivals. After a first part of the season in which he received multiple beatings from Mathieu van der Poel (Beobank-Corendon), Van Aert seems to be back on track for a good second part of the season.
European champion Van der Poel struggled straight from the start and finished third in the mud of Namur, just behind Toon Aerts (Telenet Fidea Lions). Van der Poel remains overall leader in the World Cup with 455 points, 75 points more than Wout Van Aert. There are three more round left in the series.
Van Aert completed a race-long solo and knocked himself on the chest when crossing the finish line at the citadel in Namur. “That was pretty impressive, wasn’t it,” Van Aert said in the post-race flash interview. "What can I say. I'm delighted of course." When learning that a cold might have affected Van der Poel's performance, Van Aert said, "that it would make sense because the gap today was suddenly really big. It's possible he was bothered by something today. Regarding my own race I can only be happy. Straight from the start it went super well. I found a very good rhythm. I was surprised to see that so soon I could take such a big advantage. It's been a long time since I raced with these sensations," Van Aert said.
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A big crash in the first slight corner straight after the start marred the race for many riders, including Gioele Bertolini, Tom Meeusen and veteran Klaas Vantornout (Marlux-Napoleon Games). The latter abandoned the race and supported his arm, as if he had broken his collarbone. If he's broken something it might have been the last-ever race of the former Belgian champion.
In front, his teammate Michael Vanthourenhout led the field on the first slopes of the citadel. Before the first major drop, Van Aert blasted by with Van der Poel following in third place. Van der Poel showed a first sign of weakness when he tried to ride up a steep climb, where all others quickly dismounted their bikes.
Van der Poel nearly rode into Van Aert and fell to the ground. By the time the Dutch rider was back on his bike he found himself in seventh place while Van Aert surged away from Vanthourenhout after the famous long off-camber drop. In contrast to other races, Van der Poel didn’t take the initiative in the chase group and in no time Van Aert collected a lead of 20 second after the opening lap, despite the work from Toon Aerts. The latter bounced back from a poor start.
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