On Friday, Mathieu van der Poel took another win at the fifth round of the Exact Cross series in Loenhout, Belgium. Arch-rival Wout van Aert made his CX season debut, finishing fourth after crashing on the final lap. The two were set to race against each other for the first time this season in Mol, Belgium, but van Aert fell ill before the event.
Van Aert took the hole shot at the start, with van der Poel on his wheel and Tim Merlier in third. After van Aert overshot a corner, van der Poel and Merlier moved ahead. By the end of Lap 1, van der Poel had a two-second lead. He extended it on Lap 2, while van Aert, Niels Vandeputte, and Sweeck formed the chase group. Sweeck made a break on Lap 3 and caught van der Poel, with both crossing the line 14 seconds ahead of the chasing group.
Van der Poel goes
On Lap 4, van der Poel gained a 7-second lead over Sweeck, with van Aert and Nys 18 seconds behind. The battle for third continued through Lap 5. By Lap 6, Nys pressed on, joining the duo chasing van der Poel, but the leader maintained his buffer despite a crash on a tight corner.
On the final lap, the chasing trio stalled in their pursuit. Van Aert crashed after Nys passed him, and Nys sprinted to second place.
As for his race, Van Aert said he wanted to get off well, but it took a long time before he got into his rhythm. “I thought: this is starting badly already. But suddenly there was space on the left, and that’s how I unexpectedly moved to the front of the field,” he said afterward. “It felt good. I felt quite well in that first lap. But when Mathieu accelerated, I noticed that technically I wasn’t good enough. I tried once more to catch up, but it was too much to ask. Fortunately, I had a good companion in Thibau Nys. That way, we managed to catch back up to Sweeck.”
A Van Aert lo tira otro borracho con el móvil, aquí se ve claramente pic.twitter.com/gUz0kF8GUE
— Victor Rodriguez (@vrchewbacca) December 27, 2024
As for his crash, it happened when he went wide on a corner in the final kilometers and hit a spectator.
“It definitely wasn’t Thibau’s fault – he made a nice move to get to the front. The only thing was, I was on the outside of the corner. And there, a fan was leaning completely over the course,” van Aert said. “Unfortunately, I made contact with him.”
The Belgian would roll in for fourth, 36 seconds behind van der Poel and 15 behind Nys and Sweeck.
Check out van Aert’s great start…
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