Much-anticipated van der Poel vs Van Aert clash at Namur World Cup goes to the Dutchman

The Clash of the Titans–the first ‘cross meeting of Mathieu van der Poel and Wout Van Aert this season–was a humdinger, ultimately going to the world champion, as van der Poel won Sunday’s second round of the World Cup in muddy Namur three seconds ahead of Van Aert. Tom Pidcock almost crashed the reunion party, leading for most of the race. Canadian champ Michael van den Ham was 40th in his first World Cup of the season.

The Course
As usual, Namur was a mud wallow. Besides a narrower approach to the famous off-camber section this year, there was also a new descent underneath it towards the cobbles, instead of the muddy stairs descent of last year. A new steep section was also included and there were fewer cobbles.

The Contenders
Everyone was excited about van der Poel vs Van Aert for the first time this ‘cross season. Pidcock predicted great things for himself. Van der Poel won the third round of the X2O Trofee, while Van Aert had a podium in the first round of the World Cup and Round 2 of the X2O Trofee. Eli Iserbyt was the top-ranked rider, while Michael Vanthourenhout was the World Cup leader after his first career Cup victory in Tabor in late November.

Iserbyt immediately suffered a mechanical at the start. Vanthourenhout nosed ahead of the pack. Pidcock, Van Aert and eventually van der Poel joined him in a leading quartet. A mistake saw van der Poel drop back a couple of seconds.

Pidcock kept pressing on Lap 2 and led the other three by three seconds, with van der Poel powering the chase. Michael van den Ham had worked his way up to 35th.

On Lap 3 of 9, the world champion and the Belgian closed in on the Brit. Vanthourenhout re-entered the scene and even took over the pace making on Lap 4.

?? #Namur @WoutvanAert is in front, together with Van der Poel, Pidcock and Vanthourenhout. ?? pic.twitter.com/scUnAb5Q4R

— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) December 20, 2020

Again, Pidcock skipped away on Lap 4.

Lap 5 saw Pidcock’s gap narrow. Van der Poel was only three seconds in arrears, with Van Aert and Vanthourenhout a further five seconds back. The situation stayed static throughout Lap 6.

Van Aert joined van der Poel on Lap 7, the Belgian suddenly looking fresh. Pidcock kept skipping the pits, while his rivals took new bikes on every lap.

Finally, on Lap 8, Van Aert and van der Poel grabbed the British champion.

Pidcock found himself in third place. When they heard the bell, van der Poel was two seconds clear of Van Aert and four seconds head of Pidcock. Van der Poel showed his strength on the bell lap, pushing out a bigger gap to hold on for the win. Pidcock was labouring but he must be happy with his first elite-level World Cup podium. Vanthourenhout’s fourth place means he still leads the World Cup by five points over Van Aert.

2020-2021 UCI World Cup Round 2, Namur, Elite Men
1) Mathieu van der Poel (The Netherland/Alpecin-Fenix) 1:03:59
2) Wout Van Aert (Belgium/Jumbo-Visma) +0:03
3) Tom Pidcock (Great Britain/Trinity Racing) +0:11
40) Michael van den Ham (Canada) +6:08