Van der Poel's great performance to win the Herentals X2O, Pidcock adds some excitement

Mathieu van der Poel made his cyclocross season debut today at the X2O Trofee in Herentals and from the very start, after leading the race solo, he made it clear why he wears the world champion's jersey. The other big favorite, Tom Pidcock, also had a strong start, improving as the race went on.

Mathieu van der Poel finds no rivals at the X2O in Herentals

The X2O Trofee in Herentals 2023 kicked off with the highest level grid so far in the cyclocross season. Mathieu van der Poel, Tom Pidcock, Eli Iserbyt, Lars van der Haar, Laurens Sweeck or Michael Vanthourenhout started as favorites to win, but soon everyone realized that the World Champion was not going to give his rivals any chance.

Van der Poel set the pace from the very start and it was on the first hard ramp when he launched a first attack that would prove decisive.

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At the end of the first lap, Van der Poel was leading solo with more than 10 seconds ahead of Eli Iserbyt, who was leading the first chasing group and this difference only increased during the rest of the race.

Van der Poel took care of ending the excitement for the victory while the camera insisted on showing images of the world champion leading solo.

Only Tom Pidcock added a bit of expectation to the race. The British rider had a slow start, but found his rhythm and managed to jump from the second group to the first with two laps to go.

It was when the bell rang for the final lap that Pidcock launched an attack with which he escaped from the chasing group in search of Van der Poel, but the Dutchman was already a world away from the British rider and Pidcock could only secure a second place.

Mathieu van der Poel allowed himself a calm finish and crossed the finish line first with almost half a minute ahead of Tom Pidcock, the podium was closed by Lars van der Haar after beating Eli Iserbyt to the position.

1. Mathieu van der Poel in 59m20s
2. Tom Pidcock + 28s
3. Lars van der Haar + 29s
4. Eli Iserbyt + 30s
5. Cameron Mason +59s
6. Niels Vandeputte + 1m12s
7. Laurens Sweeck + 1m28s
8. Gianni Vermeersch + 1m52s
9. Quinten Hermans + 1m52s
10. Vanthurenhout + 1m52s