In pictures: The men’s race at the Waterloo UCI cyclocross World Cup

Mathie van der Poel gets the hole shot and never looks back in the second World Cup of the season

Andre Cheuk September 26, 2017

Mathieu van der Poel was imperious.

The high temperatures meant racers employed a variety of tricks to stay cool. Here Jeremy Powers gets water splashed on him by his soigneur mid-race.

The day was so hot, most riders opted to take a bottle with them during the race.

Van der Poel's mixture of fearlessness and control was on full display at "Junkyard drop".

Behind, the rest of field struggled to keep up.

The struggle is real. Spencer Petrov's pain face tells you everything you need to know about how tough the racing was.

World champ Wout Van Aert had his head down for much of the race trying to catch the leaders.

Team Telenet-Fidea's Van Kessel and Soete sprinted it out for podium placings.

Seeking relief.

When you are the world champ,. the work day is not over when you cross the finishline.

Michael Van Den Ham emptied the tank to finish the day as top Canadian.

Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) took a dominating victory at the Waterloo UCI cyclocross World Cup, completing a perfect trip through the United States with two wins and a strong hold on the series leader jersey.

Van der Poel went hard from the gun and never looked back just like he did last week in Iowa City. Attacking the course with a mixture of precision bike handling and aggression bordering on recklessness, van der Poel seemingly took seconds with every corner, a combination that the rest of the field had no answer for.

World champion Wout Van Aert (Belgium) got caught up in a crash in the early goings and spent the rest of the race working his way back through the field, eventually landing in seventh. A valiant effort to be sure, but the deficit was too much to overcome for Van Aert to be a factor at the front of the race.

Opposition to van der Poel fell to the quartet of Belgians with Tim Merlier, Daan Soete, Corne van Kessel and Michael Vanthourenhout forming the chase group. By half way through the race, it was clear there was no catching van der Poel and the four started jockeying for the podium. With Van Kessel and Soete both on the Telenet-Fidea Lions, had the numbers and filled out the podium in a two up sprint. Michael Van Den Ham (Garneau-Easton) was top Canadian in 29th place.