Cyclo-Cross World Cup 2017 – 3-VALKENBURG PROVINCIE LIMBURG [FULL RACE]

October 23, 2016

Cyclo-Cross World Cup 2017 – Stage 3 – VALKENBURG PROVINCIE LIMBURG – Limburg

The UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup is a season-long competition in cyclo-cross, organised by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). First held in the 1993–1994 season, there are currently four awards, tailored to the different categories of riders: elite men, U23 men, junior men and elite women.
The World Cup is not to be confused with the World Championship, also organised by the UCI, which is a single one day race that awards the winner with a rainbow jersey to be worn in every race till the next World Championship. Typically the World Championships are held a week or two after the end of the World Cup at the end of January or early February.

Dutch champion Mathieu van der Poel (Beobank-Corendon) won the third Telenet UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup round in Valkenburg, Netherlands. Once again the young generation dominated the race in the Elite Men category. The 21-year-old Dutch rider finished solo, well ahead of World champion Wout Van Aert (Crelan-Vastgoedservice) and Michael Vanthourenhout (Marlux-Napoleon Games).

“It’s good to win a World Cup round,” Van der Poel told Telenet Play Sports. A crash from Van Aert made it easier to keep his gap over his rivals. “Yesterday it was my turn to crash, now it was Wout. If we put each other under pressure mistakes can happen more quickly. We’re a close match to each other these days. To make the difference we have to test our limits.”

Halfway through the nine-lap race around the famous Cauberg climb there were five leaders in the race with Van der Poel and Van Aert clearly being the strongest men. With three laps to go on the mostly dry course Van der Poel jumped away in a technical section, creating a small gap on Van Aert, Vanthourenhout and Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea). One lap later the gap was still there when Van Aert slipped away in a fast off-camber descent, taking Meeusen down with him.

“He already had a gap when I fell. It’s stupid to say you just crash out of the blue. Riders know why they crash: it’s because you’re riding on your limit. Mathieu was simply better and I’m happy I could salvage second place,” Van Aert admitted.

Van der Poel easily brought the victory home, winning with a lead of 14 seconds over Van Aert and 21 seconds ahead of Vanthourenhout. “I was riding on my limit. I had a reference point where I saw that the gap was suddenly much bigger. I thought that Wout was the only rider not to crash but they were all affected,” Van der Poel said.

Much earlier in the race Van Aert had played his cards. After a fast start from European champion Lars van der Haar (Giant-Alpecin) it was the world champion who took over the initiative. Only Van der Haar, Vanthourenhout, Meeusen, Toon Aerts (Telenet-Fidea) and Kevin Pauwels (Marlux-Napoleon Games) were glued on his wheel.

Van der Poel didn’t have a great start and the fast pace up front put him in trouble. Van der Haar crashed out of the lead, and halfway into the second lap Van Aert dropped his rivals, with Van der Poel still trailing at 11 seconds. During the two following laps Van der Poel went in pursuit of Van Aert. The chase in front was full on and their pace blew away the rest of the pack. After four laps of racing the duo was 20 seconds ahead of chasers Meeusen, Vanthourenhout and Pauwels.

“Early on I threw my cards on the table and Mathieu was able to come back,” Van Aert said. After the duo got together the pace dropped again as both riders needed time to recover. “He put me under a lot of pressure and I was glad I could close the gap. Once he has a gap it’s hard to close down. It was an option to leave him alone in front for a bit longer but you don’t know how good he is,” Van der Poel said.

Vanthourenhout profited from the slower pace up front to bridge back up, together with Meeusen and Pauwels. Due to the crash from Van Aert and Meeusen the young Belgian nearly captured second place but Van Aert passed him again late in the race.

“Due to the crash I had quite a big gap but I knew it would be hard to hold on to. After the stairs I felt I didn’t have enough left in the tank,” Vanthourenhout told Telenet Play Sports.

Tom Meeusen was in the mix for a podium spot in Valkenburg after a week in which he received a critical comment from team manager Sven Nys. “It’s been a turbulent week. I’m happy I managed two fourth places this weekend,” Meeusen said. Meeusen hit Van Aert’s bike with his knee during the pile-up in the penultimate lap but he didn’t mind too much. “It’s a challenging course and then this can happen. Wout went full gas and slipped away, getting stuck behind the fencing,” Meeusen said.

In the World Cup standings Van Aert leads with 230 points, strengthening his lead over Laurens Sweeck (Beobank-Corendon) who finished ninth in Valkenburg up to 56 points. Michael Vanthourenhout moves up to third place with 166 points, two more than teammate Pauwels. Van der Poel didn’t participate in the two first World Cup rounds; he’s 19th overall with 80 points.

Results :
1 Mathieu Van Der Poel (Ned) Beobank-Corendon 1:05:13
2 Wout Van Aert (Bel) Crelan-Vastgoedservice 0:00:14
3 Michael Vanthourenhout (Bel) Marlux-Napoleon Games 0:00:21
4 Tom Meeusen (Bel) Telenet Fidea Lions 0:00:34
5 Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Marlux-Napoleon Games 0:00:49
6 Toon Aerts (Bel) Telenet Fidea Lions 0:00:56
7 Lars Van Der Haar (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:01:07
8 Corne Van Kessel (Ned) Telenet Fidea Lions 0:01:22
9 Laurens Sweeck (Bel) ERA-Circus 0:01:28
10 Tim Merlier (Bel) Crelan-Vastgoedservice 0:01:33
11 Jens Adams (Bel) Crelan-Vastgoedservice 0:01:48
12 Clément Venturini (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:56
13 Marcel Meisen (Ger) Steylaerts-Verona 0:02:07
14 Stan Godrie (Ned) Rabobank Development Team 0:02:15
15 Philipp Walsleben (Ger) Beobank-Corendon 0:02:28
16 Simon Zahner (Swi) 0:02:30
17 Michael Boros (Cze) ERA-Circus 0:02:36
18 Gianni Vermeersch (Bel) Team Steylaerts
19 Daan Soete (Bel) Telenet Fidea Lions 0:02:39
20 Steve Chainel (Fra) 0:02:44
21 Twan Van Den Brand (Ned) Cyclingteam Jo Piels 0:02:45
22 Severin Saegesser (Swi) 0:02:46
23 Jan Nesvadba (Cze) Expres Cz-Merida Team Kolin 0:02:51
24 Daan Hoeyberghs (Bel) Beobank-Corendon 0:02:57
25 Martin Haring (Svk) Dukla Banska Bystrica
26 David Van Der Poel (Ned) Beobank-Corendon 0:03:03
27 Thijs Van Amerongen (Ned) Telenet Fidea Lions 0:03:11
28 Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) Marlux-Napoleon Games 0:03:20
29 Marcel Wildhaber (Swi) Scott-Odlo MTB Racing Team 0:03:25
30 Patrick Van Leeuwen (Ned) Cyclingteam Jo Piels 0:03:38
31 Matthieu Boulo (Fra) 0:03:43
32 Francis Mourey (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 0:03:56
33 Jim Aernouts (Bel) Telenet Fidea Lions 0:04:14
34 Kevin Suarez Fernandez (Spa) 0:04:30
35 Tomas Paprstka (Cze) Expres CZ-Merida Team Kolin 0:04:47
36 Javier Ruiz De Larrinaga Ibanez (Spa) 0:04:52
37 Diether Sweeck (Bel) ERA-Circus 0:05:02
38 Lukas Winterberg (Swi) 0:05:11
39 Alois Falenta (Fra) 0:05:24
40 Vincent Baestaens (Bel) Beobank-Corendon 0:05:38
41 Andreas Moser (Swi) 0:05:41
42 Nicolas Samparisi (Ita) 0:06:21
43 Michal Malik (Cze) 0:06:51
44 Anthonin Didier (Fra) 0:06:57
45 Matej Lasak (Cze)
46 Tobin Ortenblad (USA) Santa Cruz Factory Racing
47 Sascha Weber (Ger)
48 Lorenzo Samparisi (Ita)
49 Julien Taramarcaz (Swi) ERA-Circus
50 Yu Takenouchi (Jpn)
51 Mariusz Gil (Pol)
52 Christian Helmig (Lux)
53 Yoann Corbihan (Fra)
54 Marvin Schmidt (Ger)
55 Inigo Gomez Elorriaga (Spa)
56 Lex Reichling (Lux)

World Cup standings after three races :
1 Wout Van Aert (Bel) Crelan-Vastgoedservice 230 pts
2 Laurens Sweeck (Bel) ERA-Circus 174
3 Michael Vanthourenhout (Bel) Marlux-Napoleon Games 166
4 Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Marlux-Napoleon Games 164
5 Toon Aerts (Bel) Telenet Fidea Lions 154
6 Tom Meeusen (Bel) Telenet Fidea Lions 137
7 Gianni Vermeersch (Bel) Team Steylaerts 126
8 Tim Merlier (Bel) Crelan-Vastgoedservice 118
9 Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) Marlux-Napoleon Games 117
10 Jim Aernouts (Bel) Telenet Fidea Lions 113
11 Philipp Walsleben (Ger) Beobank-Corendon 108
12 Steve Chainel (Fra) 102
13 Thijs Van Amerongen (Ned) Telenet Fidea Lions 101
14 Quinten Hermans (Bel) Telenet Fidea Lions 98
15 Corne Van Kessel (Ned) Telenet Fidea Lions 96
16 Rob Peeters (Bel) Crelan-Vastgoedservice 91
17 Daan Soete (Bel) Telenet Fidea Lions 85
18 Daan Hoeyberghs (Bel) Beobank-Corendon 82
19 Mathieu Van der Poel (Ned) Beobank-Corendon 80
20 Matthieu Boulo (Fra) 75
21 Ian Field (GBr) Hargroves Cycles 67
22 Diether Sweeck (Bel) ERA-Circus 66
23 Stephen Hyde (USA) Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com 62
24 Simon Zahner (Swi) 62
25 Marcel Meisen (Ger) Steylaerts-Verona 59
26 David Van der Poel (Ned) Beobank-Corendon 58
27 Jeremy Martin (Can) Focus CX Team Canada 55
28 Marcel Wildhaber (Swi) Scott-Odlo Mtb Racing Team 53
29 Tobin Ortenblad (USA) Santa Cruz Factory Racing 53
30 Michael Van Den Ham (Can) Garneau – Easton Cycling 52
31 Vincent Baestaens (Bel) Beobank-Corendon 49
32 Lars Van Der Haar (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 48
33 Jeremy Powers (USA) Aspire Racing 41
34 Jens Adams (Bel) Crelan-Vastgoedservice 40
35 Travis Livermon (USA) Maxxis-Shimano Pro Cyclocross 40
36 Clément Venturini (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 39
37 Julien Taramarcaz (Swi) ERA-Circus 39
38 Geoff Kabush (Can) Scott-3Rox Racing 39
39 James Driscoll (USA) Raleigh Clement 39
40 Anthony Clark (USA) Squid 38
41 Stan Godrie (Ned) Rabobank Development Team 37
42 Dan Timmerman (USA) Stan’S Notubes Elite CX 37
43 Kerry Werner (USA) Kona Endurance Team 37
44 Michael Boros (Cze) ERA-Circus 34
45 Jonathan Page (USA) Fuji 34
46 Jeremy Durrin (USA) Neon Velo Cycling Team 32
47 Allen Krughoff (USA) Boulder Cycle Sport/Yogaglo 32
48 Twan Van Den Brand (Ned) Cyclingteam Jo Piels 30
49 Severin Saegesser (Swi) 29
50 Jan Nesvadba (Cze) Expres Cz-Merida Team Kolin 28
51 Craig Richey (Can) Garneau – Easton Cycling 28
52 Martin Haring (Svk) Dukla Banska Bystrica 26
53 Justin Lindine (USA) Apex / NBX / Trek 26
54 Daniel Summerhill (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 25
55 Patrick Van Leeuwen (Ned) Cyclingteam Jo Piels 21
56 Francis Mourey (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 19
57 Derek Zandstra (Can) Scott-3Rox Racing 18
58 Kevin Suarez Fernandez (Spa) 17
59 Tomas Paprstka (Cze) Expres Cz-Merida Team Kolin 16
60 Andrew Dillman (USA) Cyclocross Alliance 16
61 Hector Riveros (Col) 16
62 Troy Wells (USA) Team Clif Bar 16
63 Mark Mcconnell (Can) Hot Sauce Cycling X Garneau 16
64 Javier Ruiz De Larrinaga Ibanez (Spa) 15
65 Curtis White (USA) Rally Cycling 14
66 Lukas Winterberg (Swi) 13
67 Alois Falenta (Fra) 12
68 Benjamin Sonntag (Ger) Team Clif Bar 11
69 Andreas Moser (Swi) 10
70 Nicolas Samparisi (Ita) 9
71 Michal Malik (Cze) 8
72 Anthonin Didier (Fra) 7
73 Matej Lasak (Cze) 6
74 Antonin Marecaille (Fra) AVC Aix En Provence 6
75 Jens Vandekinderen (Bel) Kalas-NNOF 6
76 Aaron Schooler (Can) Focus CX Team Canada 6
77 Sascha Weber (Ger) 4
78 Lorenzo Samparisi (Ita) 3
79 Christian Helmig (Lux) 3
80 Yu Takenouchi (Jpn) 1
81 Yoann Corbihan (Fra) 1