Mathieu van der Poel, unstoppable despite two punctures, won the eleventh and penultimate round of the Cyclo-cross World Cup on Saturday in Maasmechelen.
In Belgian Limburg, the seven-time world champion did not have an easy task, suffering two rear wheel punctures. First on the fifth of nine laps of a fairly smooth course. He then had to let a trio take the lead.
“I really had to make a violent effort to get back to the front of the race, although I never panicked,” he said.
The second puncture, on the penultimate lap, was less penalizing because it was closer to the technical bike change area.
Puck Pieterse wins among women
One week before the World Cup, at home in Hulst, the Dutchman scored his eleventh success in as many outings this season, the 50th triumph of his career in the World Cup.
His compatriot Tibor Del Grosso, 2nd, and the Belgian Niels Vandeputte, 3rd, were unable to take advantage of the setbacks of their leader within the Alpecin team, even if they were under the illusion until the approach of the last lap, like the Belgian champion Thibau Nys, 4th.
Among the ladies, the Dutch Puck Pieterse, winner of the Flèche wallonne in 2025, won alone while her compatriot Lucinda Brand, already assured of final victory in the World Cup, failed in 10th position.
Frenchwoman Amandine Fouquenet, long battling with Pieterse, abandoned any chance of success following a puncture on the penultimate lap. The Breton even had to give up her second place to the Dutchwoman Ceylin Alvarado.
On Sunday, the closing round of the World Cup is scheduled for Hoogerheide, in the south of the Netherlands on a course designed by… Adrie van der Poel, the father of the current world champion.
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