Mathieu van der Poel (Beobank – Corendon) nabbed his second Superprestige win of the season Sunday, following up his victory over Wout Van Aert (Crelan – Vastgoedservice) at Gieten with another triumph just ahead of the reigning world champion in Zonhoven.
Van der Poel initiated an escape from the field in the very first lap, with Van Aert only a few bike lengths behind in pursuit, and by midway through the second lap, the star duo was away for good. For nearly an hour thereafter, however, neither rider managed to get any separation on the up-and-down Zonhoven circuit, even as they put the rest of the field further and further into the rearview mirror.
Laurens Sweeck (Era – Circus) was the only other rider close to contesting the win, briefly latching onto the lead duo in the final lap before fading again to set up a two-man battle for the victory.
Van Aert led around the final corner onto the finishing straight, but van der Poel surged past on his right in the closing moments of the race. An exhausted Van Aert could not counter, forced to watch van der Poel claim the win for the second straight race on the Superprestige calendar.
Sweeck arrived at the finish line 28 seconds later to take third, making for a full podium repeat of the series opener at Gieten.
Results
- 1. Mathieu VAN DER POEL, (NED), 1:01:15
- 2. Wout VAN AERT, (BEL), 1:01:15
- 3. Laurens SWEECK, (BEL), 1:01:43
- 4. Lars VAN DER HAAR, (NED), 1:02:01
- 5. Klaas VANTORNOUT, (BEL), 1:02:25
- 6. Jens ADAMS, (BEL), 1:02:36
- 7. Rob PEETERS, (BEL), 1:02:51
- 8. Michael BOROS, (CZE), 1:03:03
- 9. David VAN DER POEL, (NED), 1:03:15
- 10. Kevin PAUWELS, (BEL), 1:03:21
- 11. Vincent BAESTAENS, (BEL), 1:03:40
- 12. Tom MEEUSEN, (BEL), 1:04:06
- 13. Twan VAN DEN BRAND, (NED), 1:04:28
- 14. Ian FIELD, (GBR), 1:04:30
- 15. Joeri ADAMS, (BEL), 1:04:32
- 16. Philipp WALSLEBEN, (GER), 1:04:45
- 17. Javier RUIZ DE LARRINAGA IBANEZ, (ESP), 1:04:50
- 18. Kevin SUAREZ FERNANDEZ, (ESP), 1:05:11
- 19. Daan HOEYBERGHS, (BEL), 1:05:35
- 20. Jens VANDEKINDEREN, (BEL)
- 21. Niels WUBBEN, (NED)
- 22. Yu TAKENOUCHI, (JPN)
- 23. Tobin ORTENBLAD, (USA)
- 24. Yelle LEARTS, (BEL)
- 25. Sander ELEN, (BEL)
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