The Dutchman won his fifth title of world champion in the discipline on Sunday, February 5, ahead of his audience, in Hoogerheide.
by Gabriel Richalot (with AFP)
A little more than three minutes … We did not wait a very long time, Sunday, February 5, in Hoogerheide, in the Netherlands, so that Mathieu Van der Poel and Wout Van Aert take off at the top of the championship of the championship world of cyclo-cross and offer tens of thousands of spectators present the duel that all enthusiasts of the discipline were waiting. At the end of the ten laps and a fight of every moment, each turn, each revival, it is ultimately the Dutch van der Poel who won the world title, his fifth, with a breath before Belgian.
Restoring all of the arms passes between “WVA” and “VDP”, both aged 28, is almost impossible as the two men have multiplied sudden acceleration on a circuit that alternates grassy passages, often covered with dead leaves, muddy areas, walkways, climbing staircase with the bike on the back, steep descents full of ruts, jumping boards in perfect timing and a few strips of bitumen.
The powerful vdp kidney stroke
During the first nine rounds (out of ten), Mathieu Van der Poel was the most offensive, rarely leaving the care at Wout Van Aert to lead the pace. But the Belgian, who sometimes seemed about to crack, has always managed to return to contact with VDP. In the last kilometers, between the depressed trees and in the white light of a beautiful winter sun, the two men occupied their heads in turn, at full speed, before explaining during a final sprint . In this exercise, Van Aert, a green jersey of the Tour de France 2022, was surprised by the powerful stroke of the VDP, which managed to take the few meters ahead of the world.
What. A. Battle. 👏
Mathieu van der poel 🇳🇱 does it!
He is your 2023 UCI Cyclo-Cross Men Elite World Champion! 🌈… https://t.co/3oqy2gi1xi
This thrilling duel between these two runners capable of hosting the winter season in the undergrowth as in the road events of the rest of the year is the top of a cyclo-cross season marked by their opposition. Before Sunday race in Hoogerheide, as part of the World Cup, in thirteen races, Van Aert had won nine times. During the other four events, he ranked second, still behind Van der Poel.
The first Frenchman, Clément Venturini, ranked 10
Saturday February 4, on the same circuit, the Dutchman Fem Van Empel became world champion by ahead of her compatriots Puck Pieterse and Lucinda Brand. Van Empel, 20, already crowned European champion this winter, succeeds his compatriot Marianne Vos, who, injured, had given up defending his title.