Mathieu Van der Poel has won the fourth round of the Cyclo-Cross World Cup in Zeven, after superb comeback. Wout van Aert finished second, while Kevin Pauwels took the third place.
The fourth World Cup race was the first German World Cup race since 2003. Wout van Aert started with a comfortable overall advantage over Laurens Sweeck while archrival Van der Poel was down in 19th place due to his injury problems at the beginning of the season.
Tom Meeusen led the troops in the opening lap, with Wout Van Aert and Michael Vanthourenhout in his slipstream while Mathieu Van der Poel had a very bad start and found himself in the middle of the pack. Van Aert saw his chance to get rid of his main rival early in the race and set a brutal pace. Only Meeusen could stay in his wheel.
However, halfway through the race Van der Poel joined rival Van der Poel after a long chase. The Dutchman needed a brief moment to recover and three laps from the end, on a short and very steep climb, Van der Poel rode Van Aert off his wheel and quickly built a comfortable lead.
There will be no time to rest as the Flandriencross in Hamme, the third round of the DVV Trofee, takes place tomorrow.
Results:
| 1 | Matthieu van der Poel (Ned) | 1:03:21 |
| 2 | Wout van Aert (Bel) | +21” |
| 3 | Kevin Pauwels (Bel) | +31” |
| 4 | Tom Meeusen (Bel) | +53” |
| 5 | Clement Venturini (Fra) | +01’08” |
| 6 | Laurens Sweek (Bel) | +01’24” |
| 7 | Corne van Kessel (Ned) | +01’32” |
| 8 | Gianni Vermeersch (Bel) | +01’38” |
| 9 | Matthieu Vanthourenhout (Bel) | +01’53” |
| 10 | Marcel Meisen (Ger) | +01’59” |
