Van der Poel Whips Up Dominant Azencross Loenhout Win – Report, Results

In his two Kerstperiode races thus far, Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon – Circus) has gotten his winning leads in different ways.

At Namur, he made baller pass of Toon Aerts (Telenet Fidea Lions) to grab a lead he would not relinquish. On Wednesday at Heusden-Zolder, Van der Poel attacked and forced Aerts into a costly mistake that gave the Dutch wunderkind a winning gap.

On Friday in the DVV Trofee Azencross race in Loenhout, Van der Poel used a different tactic for getting his latest winning margin.

After taking the holeshot, Van der Poel led the field out onto the flat, damp, twisty course in Loenhout. That much smoother than Wout van Aert (Cibel – Cebon Offroad Team) and the other riders through each corner, Van der Poel’s lead was three seconds at the midway point of the first lap. At the end of Lap 1, he led six chasers by 10 seconds.

There was no big move on Friday, Van der Poel just rode away from the rest of the world’s best male cyclocrossers.

When Van der Poel slipped out on one of the slick corners in Lap 2, the race got a little drama. However, the closest Van Aert, Aerts and the others would get was six seconds.

Still chasing Aerts in the DVV Trofee Series overall thanks to his off day at Koppenbergcross, Van der Poel stayed on the gas through the finish—save a tailwhip off the flyover in the last lap to appease the boisterous holiday crowd—to take his 19th win of the 2018/19 season.

Just as he did last year, Mathieu van der Poel won at Azencross. 2017 Azencross Loenhout. © B. Hazen / Cyclocross Magazine

Van der Go at Loenhout

Coming into the Elite Men finale, the order of the day had largely been sprint finishes. Sofie van Rooijens of the Netherlands finished alone in the Helen100 Trophy Junior Women’s race, but then the Junior Men, U23 Men and Elite Women races all came down to bunch sprints.

In a season of dominance by Van der Poel where he has seldom been challenged in the second half of races, perhaps Friday’s holiday affair would be the chance.

Van der Poel kicked off the race by taking the holeshot and leading the field out onto the damp course in Loenhout. With the holidays in full swing in Europe, a large, boisterous crowd gathered to watch the Kerstperiode cyclocross show. Aerts responded by launching for a tailwhip the first time over the flyover, but his exuberance may have been a bit much he had to pit soon after.

Given Van der Poel’s excellence in all aspects of cyclocross, he slowly started to open up space on the flat, twisty course. Midway through the first lap, he already had a three-second lead on Van Aert, Aerts and Michael Vanthourenhout (Marlux – Bingoal). There was no big move, he was just a bit quicker through each corner, adding to his growing lead.

After one lap, Van der Poel’s advantage was 10 seconds on a chase of Van Aert, Aerts, Vanthourenhout, Laurens Sweeck (Pauwels Sauzen – Vastgoedservice), Tim Merlier (Crelan – Charles) and Tom Meeusen (Corendon – Circus).

Mooie voorsprong al voor Van der Poel#DVVTrofee #Azencross pic.twitter.com/XarJU9SZUz

— DVV Trofee (@DVVtrofee) December 28, 2018

The second lap marred Van der Poel’s shot at the perfect race. After the early morning frost melted, a number of the corners got quite slick. Railing one of them with his usual speed, Van der Poel went down. He recovered, but Aerts and the rest of the chase were only six seconds at the Lap 2 mid-lap sprint.

That would be the closest the field got to Van der Poel. At the end of two laps, his lead was eight seconds. A lap later it was 17 and then 29 seconds two laps later at the midway point of the race.

Racing the Clock

At that point, the only real question was how much Van der Poel would win by. The DVV Trofee races have an added bit of intrigue because Van der Poel was chasing over four minutes in the overall standings after his disastrous race at Koppenbergcross to kick off the series.

He entered Friday’s race trailing Aerts by 1:56. He stayed on the gas through the finish line to pick up every second he could in the overall klaasment. With a lively crowd gathered in Loenhout, he did allow for a tailwhip off the flyover in the last lap to add a little flair for the fans.

The win was his 19th of the season. He has not not won a race since Koppenbergcross on November 1. Van der Poel has also not not won only two races since he started his cyclocross season in October.

Behind Van der Poel, there was action in the chase for second. The group of six—Van Aert, Aerts, Vanthourenhout, Sweeck, Meeuse and Merlier—stayed together until the seventh of nine laps.

En opnieuw veel volk aan het wasbord 🤩.#Azencross #DVVTrofee pic.twitter.com/hz53eFYK17

— DVV Trofee (@DVVtrofee) December 28, 2018

In Lap 7, Sweeck had a mechanical, dropping him off the pace in frustrating fashion. Merlier also dropped off the pace, dropping the group to four with two to go.

In the last lap, Aerts took an aggressive posture and forced the others to follow. Van Aert stuck his wheel while Vanthourenhout flagged and Meeusen fell off the pace altogether.

Aerts hit the finishing straight first and went into full sprint mode right away. Van Aert closed Aerts’ small lead and then pulled around him to take second. His 15th of the season. Aerts finished third to make it another Van der Poel – Van Aert – Aerts podium.

Podium Elite Heren#DVVTrofee #Azencross pic.twitter.com/cVGphCCXBm

— DVV Trofee (@DVVtrofee) December 28, 2018

Van der Poel finished 41 seconds ahead of Aerts. With the Lap 2 sprint bonus, he now trails Aerts by 57 seconds in the DVV Trofee overall with 3 races left to go.

Stephen Hyde (Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld) finished 20th, Curtis White (Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld) 23rd, Michael van den Ham (Garneau – Easton p/b Transitions LifeCare) 24th, Max Judelson (Voler/Clif/HRS/Rock Lobster) 39th, Cameron Jette 40th and Tyler Cloutier (Garneau – Easton p/b Transitions LifeCare) 43rd.

Full results are below.

Elite Men Result: 2018 Azencross Loenhout