Van der Poel eases to victory in round seven of the Superprestige series
Bad luck for the world champion's rivals at Heusden-Zolder
It was apparent by Lap 3 of 9 in Saturday’s Heusden-Zolder round of the Superprestige series that Mathieu van der Poel was on the way to his fourth win in six races since he started his ‘cross season on December 12. Misfortune plagued all his rivals: Tom Pidcock, Wout Van Aert and Eli Iserbyt all suffered bad luck on Boxing Day. Toon Aerts’ seventh place saw him take over the series lead from the injured Iserbyt. Canada’s Michael van den Ham came 44th.
Before Saturday, five different fellows had claimed the first six rounds, with only series leader Iserbyt a repeat winner. Tom Pidcock had taken the last round in Gavere.
A big pile-up just after the start delayed Pidcock. Van Aert and van der Poel led the long snake. Iserbyt came forward to defend his series lead. A rear tire puncture took Van Aert out of the lead.
On Lap 2, Lars van der Haar was van der Poel’s closest pursuer, with Iberbyt and Corne van Kessel just behind them. Soon the world champion was solo with a nine-second lead.
Poor Iserbyt crashed out on Lap 3, getting tangled with van der Haar and van Kessel.
With van der Poel free and clear on Lap 4, the real contest was behind: Van Aert fought back to van der Haar, van Kessel, Laurens Sweeck, Michael Vanthourenhout and Daan Soete for the podium skirmish. The group was 38-seconds behind the world champ.
Pidcock pulled a second chasing group 20 seconds behind the Van Aert group. On Lap 8, Van Aert started applying the pressure to dislodge some members of the sextet. By the time he heard the bell, Van Aert was 11 seconds ahead of van der Haar et al.
On the bell lap Sweeck and van der Haar were left to tussle for the final podium place. Van der Haar succeeded. Van der Poel’s final gap was 38 seconds to Van Aert.
The last 2020-2021 Superprestige race is February 6 in Middelkerke.
2020-2021 Superprestige Series Round 7, Zolder, Elite Men
1) Mathieu van der Poel (The Netherland/Alpecin-Fenix) +1:02:07
2) Wout Van Aert (Belgium/Jumbo-Visma) +0:38
3) Lars van der Haar (Belgium/Telenet Baloise Lions) +0:39
44) Michael van den Ham (Canada) +5:51
