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Wout van Aert repeats as world cyclocross champion in Luxembourg

Belgians dominate elite races, five medals for Dutch

January 29, 2017
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Belgian Wout van Aert earned his second consecutive rainbow jersey Sunday at the UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Bieles, Luxembourg. Van Aert beat his Dutch rival Mathieu van der Poel, who led the race early but punctured at an inopportune moment.

The first race of the day was the Under-23 men, a muddy contest mastered by Dutchman Joris Nieuwenhuis, beating second place Spaniard Filipe Orts by 1:23. Nieuwenhuis’s compatriot Sieben Wouters created a Spaniard sandwich on the podium with the bronze medal. That made four medals for the Netherlands.


There were questions for the elite men’s race: could it live up to the thrilling elite women’s race on Saturday? Could someone crack the duopoly of van Aert and 2015 champion van der Poel, the pair who dominated this season’s World Cup, Superprestige series and DVV Trophee series?


Van der Poel led onto the dirt with four-time bronze winner Kevin Pauwels (Belgian) on his wheel. Pauwels’ compatriot Tom Meeusen was immediately out of the race with a mechanical. Van Aert was lagging. Van der Poel shook loose of Pauwels, finishing Lap 1 six-seconds ahead.

Three Belgians including van Aert, two Dutchmen and a Frenchman joined Pauwels in the chase. Pauwels disappeared as van Aert, rolling green rubber, led the charge. The race leader grabbed a new bike. After two laps the Dutchman led his Belgian rival by seven-seconds.

On the third of eight laps, the situation was van der Poel leading van Aert with the bronze hopefuls far behind van Aert. One bronze candidate after another suffered mechanicals. Van Aert edged closer. The gap was only 4-seconds.


Michael Vanthourenhout (Belgium) led the bronze contingent. Another bike change from van der Poel near the end of the fourth lap created the catch for van Aert. It was on. The two were 43-seconds in front of Vanthourenhout.

Van Aert came to the front as the race entered its second half. Michael van den Ham of Canada was 43rd at this point. Van Aert took a bike change on Lap 5. But van der Poel had flatted and his chances were now scuppered. Pauwels took over third position as Vanthorenhout was among the mud-splattered riders who flatted.

Van der Poel took a fresh bike and now had a huge chase to make. Van Aert was running away with it on Lap 6, 20-seconds ahead.


By Lap 7 the only real contest was for third. Hoogerheide World Cup winner Lars van der Haar (The Netherlands) joined Belgians Pauwels and Laurens Sweeck in the bronze group.

Going into the bell lap, van Aert had a 40-second chasm. Van der Haar was making his bid for bronze. Van den Ham rode in 39th place.

Van Aert had oodles of time to celebrate the defense of his rainbow jersey. Van der Poel was despondent at the line, calling the result “the biggest disappointment of my career.” Pauwels dispatched van der Haar to wear his fifth bronze medal.

Van den Ham was the top Canadian in 38th, national champion Jeremy Martin placed 47th and Mark McConnell came 55th.

2017 UCI World Cyclocross Championships Elite Men
Gold) Wout van Aert (Belgium) 1:02:08
Silver) Mathieu van der Poel (The Netherlands) +0:44
Bronze) Kevin Pauwels (Belgium) +2:09
38) Michael van den Ham (Canada)
47) Jeremy Martin (Canada)
55) Mark McConnell (Canada)

2017 UCI World Cyclocross Championships U23 Men
Gold) Joris Nieuwenhuis (The Netherlands) 53:58
Silver) Filipe Orts (Spain) +1:23
Bronze) Sieben Wouters (The Netherlands) +1:29