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UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships: van der Poel dominates men’s elite, Pidcock second (+ videos)

Dutch clean sweep in yesterday’s women’s elite race as Alvarado gets better of Worst

Mathieu​ van der Poel of the Netherlands has won the men’s elite title at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championship, with Great Britain’s Tom Pidcock taking silver and Toon Aerts of Belgium securing the bronze medal.

With the circuit in Dübendorf, Switzerland turned into a quagmire today by heavy rain that fell throughout, defending champion and red-hot favourite van der Poel, who first won the title in 2015, sprinted away from the field right from the start and eventually won by 1 minute 20 seconds.

Pidcock, a past champion at junior and under-23 level, extricated himself from a chasing group of Belgians to get into the silver medal position and while Aerts tried to close him down, he pulled away again to seal the runner’s up spot in his elite world championship debut and become the first British male rider to make an elite podium at a cyclo-cross world championships.

The next four places were filled by Belgians, with fourth place going to former world champion Wout Van Aert, who came late to competition this season due to his injuries sustained in a crash at the Tour de France.

The day began with Belgium – which failed to get a single rider onto the podium in any of yesterday’s three races – taking a clean sweep of the medals at the men’s junior race, won by Thibau Nys whose father Sven is one of the all-time greats in the discipline.

France’s Marion Norbert Riberolle then put in just as dominant a performance as van der Poel’s to win the women’s under-23 title from Hungary’s Kata Blanka Vas, with Great Britain’s Anna Kay clinching bronze, the country’s first medal of the championships.

Yesterday’s opening day saw the Netherlands win seven out of the nine medals on offer, and winning all three races including the women’s junior race – the first time it has been included in the programme – and the men’s under-23 race.

The highlight of an opening day raced in dry conditions that provided a striking contrast to today’s mudbath though was the women’s elite race, which saw a Dutch clean sweep of the podium as Ceylin Del CarmenAlvarado outsprinted a distraught Annemarie Worst to win the rainbow jersey, with Lucinda Brand in third.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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sizbut | 4 years ago
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Gold: Pidcock's sudden acceleration, when surrounded by 5 Belgians was just awesome and totally caught them all by surprise. 

Silver: Riberolle, surrounded by congratulating friends and coaches, spots Anna Kay finishing and rushes over to congratulate her - very sporting 

Bronze: 5 out of 6 winners using the phrase "full gas" in their post race interview.

Wooden Spoon: Worst letting everyone know how pissed off she was at being beaten. No grace, no dignity. 

Team Prize: The Dutch might think it should be theirs, but actually the smiles of the faces of most of the Swiss riders won it. Clearly thrilled to be riding on home territory in front of friends and family. 

 

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