Advertisement

At the 2021 UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Rucphen, the Netherlands, Dutch fans, who couldn’t attend in person and couldn’t watch their hero Mathieu van der Poel after he was a late scratch, still enjoyed an all-time classic between rivals Tom Pidcock and Eli Iserbyt.

It took half the race for Pidock to emerge from a slow start to bring back early leaders Lars van der Haar, Iserbyt and a pack of five other contenders.

On Lap Four, Pidcock finally caught the leaders and made his way straight to the front.

World Cup leader Iserbyt looked patient, returning to the front on Lap Six, and then with teammate Michael Vanthourenhout in tow, escaped to a big gap on the penultimate lap.

Could the teammates go one-two?

Halfway through the final lap, it looked like that the two would have a dream World Cup, until a resurgent Pidcock flew by Vanthourenhout.

Heading into the final barriers, just as in the women’s race, the two leaders raced to come out of the barriers with the lead into the final turns.

Pidcock entered the final barriers behind. Both bunnyhopped the barriers, but Pidcock hopped them faster, and came into the final straight first.

Unlike Vos, Iserbyt could not find Boss mode and had to settle for second behind Pidcock, who took his first World Cup win this season in his second try.

Vanthourenhout settled for third.

Stay tuned for more coverage.

2021 Cyclocross World Cup Rucphen Results: Elite Men