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Van der Poel beats van Aert in first cross meeting of the season

World champion has triumphed over both van Aert and Pidcock this December

December 22, 2023
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The Big Three, Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel and Tom Pidcock, are scheduled to have their first hootenanny Saturday in the ninth round of the World Cup, but on Friday, world champion van der Poel prevailed over his great rival van Aert in the Exact Cross series’ third round, the sandy Zilvermeercross in Mol. Van Aert won the second round. It was van der Poel’s second victory of the season after beating Pidcock in the third round of the X2O Badkamers Trofee.

Van der Poel bolted from the Jumbo-Visma (soon to be Visma-Lease a Bike) man on the second of 10 laps, surviving a mechanical one lap later.

The field wasn’t exactly bursting with upper-tier riders, and van Aert parted company from van der Poel’s teammate Quinten Hermans soon after van der Poel’s surge away. Hermans found himself battling another teammate, Niels Vandeputte, and ex-teammate Toon Vandebosch for the final podium spot. Vandeputte “putte” the others in his rearview mirror in the later laps.

Van der Poel had 50 seconds’ buffer when he heard the bell.

The next round is December 29 in Loenhout.

2023-2024 Exact Cross, Round 3, Mol
1) Mathieu van der Poel (The Netherlands/Alpecin-Deceuninck) 58:27
2) Wout Van Aert (Belgium/Jumbo-Visma) +1:17
3) Niels Vandeputte (Belgium/Alpecin-Deceuninck) +2:12