Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) ended Mathieu van der Poel’s (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 10-race win streak at the cyclocross World Cup in Beindorm on Sunday, arriving solo at the finish after the Dutchman crashed into a post on the penultimate lap and fell out of contention for victory.
The Belgian’s first victory of the cyclocross season over his long-term rival almost ended in disaster after he also hit the deck and broke his saddle trying to remount his bike after dismounting to jump the barriers on the final lap. Van Aert avoided the embarrassment and held on for victory after dropping Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels-Sauzen-Bingoal) earlier in the lap.
Yet in his last cyclocross race of the season, it wasn’t the victory itself that was paramount for Van Aert, but the strong feeling in his legs and ability to respond to Van der Poel’s stinging attacks up the hardest inclines for the first time this season.
“It’s always good to win a race, but it wasn’t the most important thing today,” Van Aert suggested.
“I hoped to have good legs and end the season with a good feeling. I managed to do that, and in the end, I am happier with that than the win itself.”
“I was able to dig deep and fight with Mathieu. I haven’t been able to do that this winter. It’s a shame that we couldn’t have a duel in the end, but there were a lot of other strong riders that I had to beat. It wasn’t easy, but I’m glad I won.”
Van Aert’s previous three appearances on the cross bike saw him finish 1:43, 1:55 and 0:43 behind Van der Poel in Koksijde, Baal and Hulst respectively, highlighting his rival’s dominance this season even over a three-time World Champion in the discipline.
Benidorm was Van Aert’s final cyclocross appearance of the 2023-24 season after making a conscious decision to ride less of the discipline, with full focus on the Spring Classics and trying to win the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
“Wout has used several cyclocross races to prepare for the road season. He didn’t make his cyclocross campaign too long and was able to do other necessary training and training camps at the same time,” Heijboer highlighted.
“The starting point was that we didn’t build up to peak form but worked on a gradual build-up. It worked, and we will continue with a week’s training in Spain right after this last cross.”
Van Aert is set to make his road debut in 2024 at the Classica de Almeria on February 11, before racing the Volta ao Algarve ahead of the cobbled Classics in…
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