Cyclocross, Van der Poel world champion for the fifth time: Van Aert gives in after a duel to the last breath

An endless duel in a cyclo-cross World Championship that will be remembered for a long time. Mathieu van der Poel triumphs in Hoogerheide (Holland) and becomes world champion for the fifth time, beating his all-time rival, the Belgian, in the sprint Wout Van Aert. The Dutch rider, with today’s home success, managed to hook the Italian Renato Longo and the French André Dufraisse in the roll of honour, and is now starting to think about the absolute record of the Belgian Eric De Vlaeminck – Roger’s brother – who has collected seven world championship triumphs.

Van der Poel, supported by an incredible cheer, started imposing a frantic pace right from the first lap, crumbling the resistance of all but one, the usual van Aert. The two, in a bullfighting climate with very hot cheering, gave birth to an anthology last lap. Continuous attacks and counterattacks, but without anyone being able to prevail. Everything was therefore decided in the last stretch on asphalt, where Van der Pol, son (his father Adrie also designed the route) and grandson (his grandfather was the legend Raymond Poulidor) made the 80,000 rushed along the route.