Mathieu van der Poel, cyclocross legend, wins his eighth World Championship

There was no room for surprise at the Hulst World Championship. Leading from the first meters, it took Mathieu van der Poel just over a lap to destroy the race of the 2026 World Championship, where he treated us to another exhibition, almost like in every race of the perfect season he has had.

No surprises at the Cyclocross World Championship, Mathieu van der Poel claims his eighth rainbow jersey by crushing the competition

Neither the pressure of being the top favorite, nor the weight of facing the challenge of surpassing the record for victories in the world championship, nor even any mistakes on a complicated circuit like Hulst could stop Mathieu van der Poel. He was once again the pedaling robot he has been throughout the entire season, in fact, for the last two years, during which he has not been defeated in a cyclocross race, since that lamppost crossed his path in the Benidorm race in January 2024.

Right from the start, the script we have seen in recent races repeated itself, with Tibor del Grosso trying to break away from the start, and it took just a few corners for him to take Mathieu van der Poel and Thibau Nys with him, leaving the rest of the group more than ten seconds behind, almost ruled out for victory from the very beginning.

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Poor start for Felipe Orts, who came through this first section near 20th place, although the rider from Alicante soon began to climb back up to settle into a group that seemed to only have the goal of fighting for fourth place.

Meanwhile, Van der Poel took the lead of the trio and began to stretch the gap until, midway through the second lap, it broke, and that was the end of the race, with just over ten minutes of racing completed. All that was left for Mathieu van der Poel was to maintain his concentration and avoid making mistakes. In fact, he even chose to dismount from his bike to pass the plank section to avoid any risk.

Behind, the order of the medals was still to be determined between Tibor del Grosso and Thibau Nys, who alternated their positions and tried to make their bets count. Meanwhile, about twenty seconds behind them, a small group with Nieuwenhuis, Aerts, Fontana, and Orts was not giving up and was trying to maximize their chances of reaching the medal positions.

On the sixth lap, after much back and forth, Thibau Nys finally managed to break the resistance of Tibor del Grosso. Meanwhile, in the chasing group, it was a brave Felipe Orts who launched his attack and managed to open a small gap that allowed him to go all out for fourth place, dreaming of catching up to Del Grosso, who was riding about 20 seconds ahead of him.

When it seemed that the podium was decided, in the penultimate lap, Nys made a couple of mistakes that allowed Tibor del Grosso a second chance that he surely did not expect, while Orts was caught by the group he had just left, passing under the finish line for the last time with the medals just 15 seconds away.

And in the final lap, Nys repeated his mistake on the steepest climb of the circuit, allowing Tibor del Grosso to gain an advantage that, with so little race remaining, ended up being decisive in the fight for the medals, allowing him to reach the silver medal in what is his debut in the Elite category.

The chasing group broke apart in the final moments of the lap, and finally, Felipe Orts had to settle for seventh place, which, after all, is his best position in a World Championship.

2026 Cyclocross World Championship Results – Hulst: Elite Men

1. Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) 1h00'25''
2. Tibor del Grosso (Netherlands) +35
3. Thibau Nys (Belgium) +46
4. Joris Nieuwenhuis (Netherlands) +55''
5. Filippo Fontana (Italy) +55''
6. Gerben Kuypers (Belgium) +58''
7. Felipe Orts (Spain) +1'04''
8. Toon Aerts (Belgium) +1'04''
9. Jente Michels (Belgium) +1'04''
10. Michael Vanthourenhout (Belgium) +1'35''