Crushing dominance of Mathieu van der Poel in the closing of the World Cup

Unbeatable, Mathieu van der Poel achieved his seventh victory in as many races this season at the Hoogerheide World Cup this Sunday. With only the big goal of the Liévin World Championships next week remaining, the Alpecin-Deceuninck man has once again confirmed among his compatriots the huge difference between him and the rest. Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Cibel) finally secured an overall classification that had been tied up for several weeks.

No one could beat Van der Poel in the Hoogerheide World Cup

This time there was no time for any other possible interpretation. Mathieu van der Poel crushed all his rivals in the final leg of the World Cup held this Sunday in Hoogerheide (Netherlands). The rainbow jersey took advantage of his good starting position to accelerate from the first lap and, except for a brief moment behind Michael Vanthourenhout, led the race from start to finish, making it clear to the rest that they had to fight for the other two podium spots.

Van der Poel signed off with a perfect seven out of seven, completing a good training session exactly one week before his main goal during this cyclocross season: to win the seventh elite world title. If he achieves it, he would be closing out an undefeated cyclocross season for the first time since his last year as a junior, although, to be fair, this season he has only competed in eight races and in some of them where he barely suffered one or two defeats, his calendar exceeded twenty races.

Michael Vanthourenhout was a deserving winner of the World Cup

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Considering Van der Poel's almost untouchable condition, Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Cibel) confirmed his first place in the overall World Cup standings in the best possible way. The Belgian practically only needed to finish in the points zone... and that's even considering that his only rival, Toon Aerts (Deschacht-Hens), won the race and scored 40 points to reduce the 32-point disadvantage he had.

Lap and MVDP has a +29s lead.

Foot out though in the same section Fem van Empel went down earlier today!

A big battle playing out behind, with Vanthourenhout getting a gap on the chasers behind and looking to extend his @UCIcyclocrossWC lead. #CXWorldCup #FLCS pic.twitter.com/OgVp3fGqW8

— UCI Cyclocross (@UCI_CX) January 26, 2025

Freed, with Van der Poel comfortable in the lead, Vanthourenhout changed the pace at the start of the second lap to pull away from most of the main names he has fought against during this winter campaign. From that point on, with the leader gradually extending his advantage, the Pauwels rider did the same over a chasing pack where Joran Wyseure was defending his podium spot in the overall standings against a threatening VDP, who only needed five of the eleven legs of the competition to finish among the top five.

Focused until the end, his lead at the finish line exceeded a minute and a half over a satisfied Michael Vanthourenhout. Lars van der Haar, third, completed the great Dutch party in Hoogerheide.

Hoogerheide World Cup Classification

1st Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 57'00"
2nd Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Cibel) at 1'42"
3rd Lars van der Haar (Baloise Glowi Lions) at 1'57"
4th Toon Aerts (Deschacht-Hens) at 2'21"
5th Joran Wyseure (Crelan-Corendon) at 2'28"
6th Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Cibel) at 2'33
7th Emiel Verstrynge (Crelan-Corendon) at 2'41"
8th Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ridley Racing Team) at 2'43"
9th Jens Adams (Athletes for Hope) at 2'51"
10th Ryan Kamp at 3'02"

Lucinda Brand rounded off her fantastic World Cup with a victory in Hoogerheide

There may be doubts about who has been the strongest rider during this cyclocross season, but not about the name of the most consistent. Lucinda Brand (Baloise Glowi Lions) finished off in style a World Cup where she did not step off the podium in any of the eleven races. Her third places in Zonhoven and Benidorm were the worst results of a record that includes victories in Dublin, Dendermonde, and Hoogerheide.

Brand showed up in excellent form for this final stretch of the season, beating the winner this Saturday in Maasmechelen, the Hungarian Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime), by almost half a minute. Another local rider, the climber Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck), completed the podium in the farewell of the cyclocross World Cup.

Hoogerheide World Cup Classification

1st Lucinda Brand (Baloise Glowi Lions) 47'47"
2nd Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime) at 28"
3rd Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) at 38"
4th Fem van Empel (Visma | Lease a Bike) at 53"
5th Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Fenix-Deceuninck) at 1'31"
6th Zoe Backstedt (Canyon/SRAM) at 1'48"
7th Sara Casasola (Crelan-Corendon) at 1'57"
8th Inge van der Heijden (Crelan-Corendon) at 2'05"
9th Amandine Fouquet (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) at 2'11"
10th Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) at 2'20"