Van der Poel takes hard-won 50th World Cup victory in Maasmechelen thriller
Mathieu van der Poel was the unsurprising victor at the close of the elite men's race at Maasmechelen, marking a record-equalling 50 World Cup wins for the world champion. It was not a dominant victory like that of Benidorm a week ago, though, as Van der Poel faced down two punctures and an ill-timed tumble on his way to his 22nd consecutive win.
It was a refreshingly dramatic outing for the elite men on the Belgian-Dutch border, with Cameron Mason keeping the Alpecin-Premier Tech boys from a characteristically early assertion of their dominance in the first two laps. However, after the British national champion punctured out of the lead group he'd personally broken off the pack, the remainder of the race was an Alpecin-Premier Tech show, with Thibau Nys trying desperately to make his mark in their midst. The Belgian looked strong, but he struggled to get along with certain sections of the course, and despite his best efforts, Nys was unable to prevent Tibor Del Grosso and Niels Vandeputte from making it a team 1-2-3.
The final round of the World Cup comes as soon as this Sunday when the field descends on Hoogerheide for the Grand Prix Adrie van der Poel. Its namesake's younger son Mathieu takes a 38-point series lead to the grand finale where the current world champion has won eight times before.
[race_result id=19074 stage_id=0 count=5 gc=0 year=2026]
Elite men's World Cup standings after Maasmechelen:
- Mathieu van der Poel – 280 pts
- Thibau Nys – 242 pts
- Niels Vandeputte – 222 pts
- Tibor Del Grosso – 191 pts
- Michael Vanthourenhout – 187 pts
