Van der Poel wins for the men, Dyck turns in Canada’s best performance at the Hoogerheide World Cup of cyclocross
A week before the Zolder, Belgium UCI cyclocross world championships, competition in Hoogerheide brought the 2015-16 World Cup season to a finely characteristic close for the discipline.
A week before the Zolder, Belgium UCI cyclocross world championships, competition in Hoogerheide brought the 2015-16 World Cup season to a finely characteristic close for the discipline.
The course was muddy, messy, and described as everything from “difficult” to “tough” to, it can be imagined, everything in between. The terrain served to sharpen the edge and the tempo of competition, though. For the day’s competing riders, across a variety of disciplines, it was almost fitting that the Hoogerheide terrain seemed to be exactly the conditions they trained for.
Matthieu Van Der Poel unstoppable in #Hoogerheide. Can anyone get near him at Zolder?
— Daniel Lloyd (@daniellloyd1) January 24, 2016
Elite men’s competition at the UCI cyclocross World Cup saw 21-year-old Mathieu van der Poel, riding for BKCP-Corendon, snatch his fourth victory in a row with a time of 1:07:31, a victory he fought for in a season-topping battle with rival Wout Van Aert of Crelan-Vastgoedservice Continental Team. His win followed a carefully-paced match-up in which Van der Poel reserved momentum at the beginning, then gradually extended his lead as the race progressed. Van Aert, never far behind, finished 48 seconds behind the Netherlands-bred winner after being denied a duel with the leader, as Van der Poel added about eight seconds of advantage to each lap.
In third was Kevin Pauwels of Belgium, 59 seconds back, riding for Marlux-Napoleon Games.
For riders competing in the Elite women’s division, the terrain was no less sloppy nor muddy, and certainly no less a proving ground for the field’s skill. After powering into a solo lead, 25-year-old Sophie de Boer, riding for Kalas-NNOF, won her first-ever World Cup victory at race’s end, 35 seconds ahead of RaboLiv’s Talitha DeJong, the reigning Dutch champion. With the same time, British champion Nikki Harris, a Boels-Dolmans rider, finished third.
In that competition, De Boer started also started things strong, riding away from the gield in the mud during the pening lap. After De Jong and Harris bridged to catch her lead, De Boer was able once again to put some distance between her and her prodigious challengers, a trend she continued to build upon starting with the second of the race’s four laps.
Behind her, De Jong and Harris battled for second place, a position that was nearly in Harris’s grasp when De Jong snagged a break lever on the barrier in one of the course’s muddier portions. Building back up to a noticeable lead by the race’s finishing uphill section, De Jong, however, was able to hold Harris’s comeback attempts for long enough to take second.
Once again, it was Canada’s Mical Dyck, riding for Naked Bikes, who turned in her country’s best performance in the Elite women’s competition, finishing 24th 3:53 behind the lead.
Ruby West of Team Canada placed 60th with 10:09.
Elite men
1) Mathieu Van der Poel (Ned): 1:07:31
2) Wout Van Aer (Bel): 00:48
3) Kevin Pauwels (Bel): 00:59
49) Michael Van Den Ham (Can): -2 laps
53) Jeremy Martin (Can): -3 laps
57) Aaron Schooler (Can): -3 laps
63) Mark McConnell (Can): -4 laps
67) Cameron Jette (Can): -4 laps
Elite women
1) Sophie De Boer (Ned): 0:40:30
2) Thalite De Jong (Ned): 0:35
3) Nikki Harris (GBR): 0:38
24) Mical Dyck (Can): 3:53
60) Ruby West (Can): 10:09
65) Maggie Colest-Lyster (Can): -1 lap
