Mathieu Van der Poel 'stayed out of trouble all day' to win cyclo-cross World Cup event in Besancon

Mathieu van der Poel finished ahead of Toon Aerts in second and Niels Vandeputte in third to secure the victory at the UCI cyclo-cross World Cup event in Besancon. The six-time UCI Cyclo-cross world champion overcame difficult conditions to go from a start in the second row to first place. World Cup leader Michael Vanthourenhout had to settle for seventh after a difficult start to the race.

'Spellbinding' - Van der Poel wins fifth straight race after storming Besancon World Cup

Video credit: TNT Sports

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) felt he did well in difficult conditions as he recorded his third win of the season at the UCI cyclo-cross World Cup event in Besancon on Sunday.

Van der Poel overcame the cold weather to finish ahead of second-placed rider Toon Aerts (Deschacht-Hens-FSP) by 20 seconds and secure his fifth World Cup event win in a row.

Belgian rider Niels Vandeputte (Alpecin-Deceuninck) finished in third, 36 seconds behind his Dutch rival.

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Six-time UCI cyclo-cross world champion Van der Poel was delighted to have put on a show in front of a sizeable crowd.

"It was a nice course with a nice crowd as well, it’s nice to race here in France," Van der Poel said.

"It’s not often we go abroad any more with cyclo-cross, so it's nice to see so many people here.

"It was really hard and, in the end, the last two laps were even harder, but I kept doing my thing and I stayed out of trouble all day actually, and that was what I was trying to do."

The riders were forced to compete on a slippery course due to a layer of ice that had formed over mud as a result of the cold conditions.

The 29-year-old started on the second row but battled to take the lead before creating a sizeable gap between himself and the chasing pack during a lightning-quick second lap.

'Absolutely pitch perfect' - Van Empel dominates for cyclo-cross victory in Besancon

Video credit: TNT Sports

Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) is still leading the way in the overall World Cup rankings, but he had to settle for seventh place due to a bike exchange issue.

Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) finished in fourth, while Joran Wyseure (Crelan-Corendon) took fifth.

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