Mathieu van der Poel has had a successful restart of the road season with several fourth-place finishes and top 15s, but the Alpecin-Fenix star’s campaign has undoubtedly been overshadowed by the stunning, dominant month of Wout van Aert and his Jumbo Visma team.
Today, Van der Poel turned the tables on nine-man-strong Jumbo Visma team that has been nearly unbeatable this August.
The Dutch star used an early storm to douse the competition with a stunning jolt of acceleration.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) wins the 2020 Dutch Road National Championships. © B. Hazen / Cyclocross Magazine
Racing with just his brother David and Oscar Riesebeek as teammates, Van der Poel attacked the 22 percent grade cobbled climb with 44km to go.
He quickly secured a 30-second gap, and no amount of teamwork behind him would threaten his lead.
Van der Poel went into time trial mode and increased his lead to 1:31 by the finish.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) wins the 2020 Dutch Road National Championships. © B. Hazen / Cyclocross Magazine
See Van der Poel’s explosive attack at the six-minute mark below:
Due to the early storms, it looked like Van der Poel had just completed a mildly muddy cyclocross race at the finish.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) wins the 2020 Dutch Road National Championships. © B. Hazen / Cyclocross Magazine
Nils Eekhoff (Sunweb) and Timo Roosen (Team Jumbo-Visma) completed the socially-distanced podium.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) wins the 2020 Dutch Road National Championships. © B. Hazen / Cyclocross Magazine
Fellow cyclocrosser Corne van Kessel (Circus-Wanty Gobert) finished seventh.
In the women’s race, cyclocross and road legend Marianne Vos (CCC-Liv) featured in the race before fading with two laps to go, and finished fourth behind Anna Van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans).
Van der Poel’s national championship-winning ride made it an extra-special day for the team, after cyclocrosser Marcel Meisen took the German road national championships in a sprint.
The 2020 title is Van der Poel’s second in three years, after his dramatic sprint victory in 2018.
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