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14.42 Fifth round closed by Mathieu van der Poel! 41’57”, he is hammering! 8’19 ”his lap, Van Aert passes with 27” delay, Vanthorenthout instead gave up, at 47 ”. Good for Sweeck, who is three seconds behind his compatriot!
14.41 In fact, van der Haar’s fifth place is not far away, being 59 “from the top. 13 ”to recover for second in the general classification, which he would like to lose as little as possible from Sweeck.
14.40 Attack by Iserbyt for seventh place, Pidcock sticks behind him.
14.39 The Jumbo-Visma man seems to have put a little more margin on Vanthorenthout, and the stopwatch rewards him: 12″ on his compatriot, to secure second place.
14.38 He doesn’t want to have someone close to van der Poel! He always puts a little more on his opponents, now Van Aert is at 25”!
14.35 Fifth van der Haar, sixth the Belgian Jens Adams at 52 “, then the group with Pidcock, Iserbyt and Vandeputte (Alpecin-Deceuninck), 1’05” away from the top.
14.34 Fourth lap completed! 33’37” van der Poel’s time, Van Aert is second at 24” for having lost time on the last stretch in the sand, Vanthorenthout third at 32” with Sweeck just behind.
14.33 Van der Poel has more! Increase the margin again! 19” on van Aert who can’t get close. And behind Vanthorenthout is always at his pace.
14.32 In the meantime, Pidcock has passed Iserbyt, doing Sweeck a big favor in terms of the general classification.
14.30 Now 30 minutes of the match have passed, van der Poel starts earning a little again, 16” for him. The stretches in sand are more favorable to him.
14.29 Now it’s like a time trial on the road between van der Poel and Van Aert, the Dutchman can manage 13 seconds!
14.27 Attention, Van Aert’s mistake! The bike remains nailed to the mud, but manages to restart and not lose too much.
14.26 van der Poel completes the third lap, 25’21” his time. However, van Aert attacked behind, he’s 13” away. Vanthourenthout third at 18”. fourth Sweeck at 24”. Pidcock moved into ninth place, behind Iserbyt.
14.24 Vanthorenthout resists, and in the meantime extends van der Poel again, who has 20″ to manage!
14.23 And now Van Aert tries to accelerate to shake off Vanthorenthout! He wants to film van der Poel!
14.21 Tom Pidcock tries to come back, he is tenth at 47 “. Gioele Bertolini twenty-fifth.
14.20 He is now managing van der Poel, he cannot run at full speed for all five remaining laps. For him 16” on the Vanthorenthout-Van Aert couple.
14.19 Once the time has been timed, the race will run over the distance of seven laps.
14.17 Second round in the archive! van der Poel has 12” on Vanthorenhout and Van Aert, 17” on van der Haar and 18” on Sweeck. It goes back to Iserbyt, seventh at 32”.
14.16 The gap between van der Poel and his opponents continues to open, the Dutchman can boast a 14-second lead.
14.15 Pidcock is meanwhile enlisted in the center group, in sixteenth place. Barring miracles, he will not be among the protagonists of the day.
14.14 Stretch van der Poel! Already 10”! It goes up like an arrow!
14.13 van der Poel has 6” on Van Aert, Van Der Haar and Michael Vanthorenhout (Pauwels Sauces-Bingoal); the Dutchman’s attack sent Sweeck into a crisis, now fifth.
14.12 and Van Aert, at 5”, sets off in pursuit. START THE CHALLENGE!
14.11 ATTACK VAN DER POEL! WANTS TO RACE ALONE! WHAT AN ENGINE, WHAT LEGS!
14.10 Pidcock is recovering a little, he is currently fifteenth.
14.08 Finished the first lap! The Van Der Haar-Van Aert and van der Poel trio have a couple of seconds on Laurens Sweeck, who is gaining a lot of points in general given the eleventh place of Eli Iserbyt at 15”.
14.07 Hendrickx breaks away, Van Der Haar, Van Aert and van der Poel continue! Van Der Haar starts shooting!
14.05 A leading quartet was therefore formed: Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Mees Hendrikx (Crelan-Fristads), Mees Hendrikx (Crelan-Fristads) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix).
14.04 A very slow start instead for the world champion Thomas Pidcock, currently 23rd at 18″ from the leaders.
14.03 van der Poel and Laurens Sweek are taking advantage of the work of Lars van der Haar (Baloise Trek Lions) and the Swiss Kevin Kuhn (Tormans Cyclo Cross Team) to get back on Van Aert and Hendrikx.
14.02 With him is the Dutch Mees Hendrikx (Crelan-Fristads), while van der Poel is slowly climbing the slope.
14.01 Starting best of all is Wout Van Aert, who immediately tries to stretch!
14.00 THE RACE STARTS!!
13.59 The runners line up on the starting line.
13.58 There are 45 runners in the race. Pidcock starts with number 1, Iserbyt with number 5, Van Aert with number 11, van der Poel with number 25. Also present was the blue Gioele Bertolini with bib number 42.
13.55 For Wout van Aert, today’s match represents the seasonal debut.
13.52 In yesterday’s Superprestige in Boom however, won by Pidcock (at his seasonal debut) the Dutchman fell, finishing thirteenth with some pain in his arm and back. However, the Dutchman has averted any risk and has already stated that he will be ready to leave today.
13.49 Mathieu van der Poel made his debut in the World Cup last week, overwhelmingly winning the Hulst race ahead of Laurens Sweeck and Eli Iserbyt, fighting for the general classification.
13.46 A race that sees all three great phenomena of the specialty and great performers on the road at the starting line: Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel and Tom Pidcock!
13.43 Hello everyone and welcome to the LIVE LIVE of the eighth round of the World Cup in Antwerp (Belgium), the Scheldecross!
Hello everyone and welcome to the LIVE LIVE of the eighth round of the Antwerp World Cup, the Scheldecross; a highly anticipated race since it will see at the starting line three great phenomena of the discipline free from road commitments and who will surely inflame the day, let’s talk about Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock.
The Dutchman has already tasted the mud of the world championship competition, who didn’t want to know about it at his debut: first race and first victory in Hulst in a clear and convincing way. In yesterday’s Superprestige at Boom he finished only thirteenth due to a fall: shoulder and knee pain, but he will be at the start today. Like yesterday’s winner, Tom Pidcock, who showed off an enviable leg; who knows if it will be the same for the rookie van Aert.
But all this must not distract from the all-Belgian fight for the World Cup, which currently sees the protagonists Eli Iserbyt and Laurens Sweeck. After starting with three consecutive victories, the reigning world champion was conditioned by some back problems that prevented him from being at his best, with his compatriot who, with second place in Hulst, took the lead to the ranking.
Cyclocross, in Antwerp stellar challenge between Van Aert, Van der Poel and Pidcock in the World Cup
The Scheldecross in Antwerp, the eighth round of the Cyclocross World Cup, will begin at 14.00. GOOD FUN!
Photo: Photo LiveMedia/DPPI/Fabien Boukla
