Van der Poel wins at Antwerp for the eighth time, as Sweeck takes over World Cup lead
Six days after the close-run finale at Namur, the elite men's field returned to a familiar pattern at round five of the World Cup in Antwerp as world champion Mathieu van der Poel soloed to a dominant victory, his eighth at the Belgian port city since 2014.
The world champion made short work of moving up from his start on the third row, Wout van Aert sitting on his wheel in the Belgian's season debut. Van der Poel first appeared at the front after the first sand section along the beach, just five minutes into the race. He completed the first lap with Tibor Del Grosso and Joris Nieuwenhuis in tow, but a couple of probing accelerations later, and he was free and clear before the end of lap 2.
The race for second was a good one, but with the notable absence of World Cup leader Thibau Nys. The chase kept evolving until Laurens Sweeck broke away in the fourth lap (of eight), extra motivated by the opportunity to haul in maximum available points as Nys floundered around 20th. A dropped chain a lap later almost neutralised Sweeck's move, but he persevered, and he was eventually joined on the podium by young Crelan-Corendon teammate Emiel Verstrynge.
Van Aert had a characteristically steady start and looked to be in podium contention until a late puncture disrupted his momentum, eventually finishing seventh. Nys, meanwhile, had a bad day on the sand, finishing 23rd which only got him three points to Sweeck's 30 for second place.
Look out for the first of Escape Collective's bumper Kerstperiode galleries after Sunday's World Cup Koksijde.
Elite men’s top 5
- Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 1:01:24
- Laurens Sweeck (Crelan Corendon) +0:24
- Emiel Verstrynge (Crelan Corendon) +0:33
- Pim Ronhaar (Baloise Glowi Lions) +0:35
- Niels Vandeputte (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:36
World Cup standings
- Laurens Sweeck 116pts
- Thibay Nys 113pts
- Michael Vanthourenhout 111pts
- Joris Nieuwenhuis 103pts
- Niels Vandeputte 100pts
