Cyclocross: The Belgian Wout van Aert is Cyclocross World Champion 2016! In a race in Heusden-Zolder that was extremely gripping over the entire distance, the 23 U2014 World Champion prevailed against Lars van der Haar and Kevin Pauwels. Defending champion Matheiu van der Poel made a serious mistake and ended up only fifth.
What a race at the Cyclocross World Championships in Zolder this afternoon. In typical cold and wet weather and on a muddy track, the big favorites for the title, van Aert, van der Haar, van der Poel and Nys, put up a thrilling race right up to the last minute. The frenetic crowd along the route defied the weather and created an incomparable atmosphere, even if they went a bit overboard at one point or another.
At no point did the favorites from Belgium and the Netherlands leave any doubt that they would fight for the title alone - defending champion Mathieu van der Poel, together with van der Haar and van Aert, was able to pull away by a few seconds on the first lap. As a result, there were several speed changes and a leading group of eight or nine drivers formed, who didn't give a tenth of a second their time. However, during the fourth lap, Mathieu van der Poel made a mistake that destroyed his own chances for the title and caused the race to explode.
Van der Haar was in the lead and had van der Poel and van Aert on his back wheel. However, when the Dutch title defender had to get off his bike on a climb, he didn't pay attention to what was happening behind him and jumped into the front wheel of his pursuer van Aert. Van der Haar took the opportunity and was able to extend his lead, while the two rivals behind him only got back into the action after a few endless seconds. However, while van der Poel seemed completely off the mark and fell further and further behind, van Aert fought his way back second by second to the leading Van der Haar with an impressive show of strength.
The race in re-live
Things got uncomfortable for the Dutchman at the front – not only because of the pressure from his pursuers, but also because of the Belgian crowd. Beer mugs kept flying at him and he was spat on. Definitely not a pretty scene. "Cups were flying from all directions. The audience booed me so loudly that at some point I realized: They're scared." said van der Haar after the end of the race. Whether it was the spectators or the pressure from the pursuers - lap after lap the once so comfortable condition melted more and in the penultimate lap it was time: Wout van Aert had caught up with him.
A gripping duel between two equally strong drivers followed - with the happier end for the 21-year-old Belgian. “When I had to get off my bike on the climb I thought – that's it. But somewhere I still found a little strength in my legs and I didn't want to lose like that. It was really a fight to the end." said the newly crowned world champion. He finally crossed the finish line five seconds ahead of van der Haar. Half a minute later, Kevil Pauwels and Sven Nys crossed the finish line – the latter in his last professional race. The best German was Marcel Meisen in 10th place.
Final result Cyclocross World Championship 2016 men
[easy table th=“0″]1.,Wout van Aert,Belgium,1:05:52
2.,Lars van der Haar,Netherlands,00:00:05
3.,Kevin Pauwels,Belgium,00:00:35
4.,Sven Nys,Belgium,00:00:39
5.,Mathieu van der Poel,Netherlands,00:00:47
6.,David van der Poel,Netherlands,00:01:03
7., Laurens Sweeck, Belgium, 00:01:11
8.,Tom Meeusen,Belgium,00:01:23
9., Radomir Simunek, Czech Republic, 00:01:37
10., Marcel Meisen, Germany, 00:01:43
[/easy table]
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