Van Aert dominates and wins the CX World Cup in Dendermonde against a Van der Poel who is lacking riding form

The big day that all cyclocross fans were waiting for came and although it was an exciting race, the predictions were right. Wout van Aert won the Dendermonde World Cup to remain unbeaten this season. Van der Poel suffered from his lack of riding form and Pidcock didn't have his day.

Wout van Aert wins the 2021 Dendermonde CX World Cup

Belgian Toon Aerts took advantage of a somewhat messy start to take the lead on the first lap. Behind him, Van der Poel set up a chase that ended on lap 2, when a great comeback by Van Aert ended with the Jumbo Visma rider leading the race, Van der Poel second and Toon Aerts third.

From lap 2, this group of 3 already had a lead of half a minute over the rest and it looked like the podium would be decided between them. British rider Tom Pidock was not having the best day, and was riding in 8th position, more than 1:10 minutes behind the race leader.

As the laps went by and the brilliant start of the race seemed to start to take its toll on Toon Aerts, meanwhile the eternal duel between Van Aert and Van der Poel was back, although it was clear that the Jumbo Visma rider was one point ahead of the reigning world champion and gradually began to go solo. Van der Poel could only settle for a minimal gap to Van Aert.

The bell on the last lap confirmed Wout van Aert's overwhelming superiority. The Belgian was still riding alone with a lead of more than 40 seconds over Mathieu van der Poel. Toon Aerts held on for third, 55 seconds behind.

Without further incident, the victory went once again to the Belgian Wout van Aert, who still doesn't know what it's like to compete without winning this season. Van der Poel started his cyclocross season with a great second place and Toon Aerts closed the podium in a very high level race.

British rider Tom Pidcock finally finished in eighth place, almost 3 minutes behind.

Results 2021 Dendermonde CX Men's World Cup

1. VAN AERT Wout (JUMBO-VISMA) 
2. VAN DER POEL Mathieu (ALPECIN - FENIX) +49
3. AERTS Toon (BALOISE TREK LIONS) +1:18
4. VANTHOURENHOUT Michael  +1:52
5. HERMANS Quinten (TORMANS CYCLO CROSS TEAM) +2:09
6. VAN KESSEL Corne (TORMANS CYCLO CROSS TEAM) +2:41
7. SWEECK Laurens (PAUWELS SAUZEN - BINGOAL) +2:52
8. PIDCOCK Thomas (INEOS GRENADIERS) +2:59
9. ISERBYT Eli (PAUWELS SAUZEN - BINGOAL) +3:13
10. VAN DER HAAR Lars (BALOISE TREK LIONS) +3:24