Racing World

Van der Poel from another planet: wins big in Zonhoven

The superiority of the Dutch champion is impressive. Nice 24th place for Gioele Bertolini. Among women, Puck Pieterse wins. Also noteworthy is Mattia Agostinacchio's 5th place among the Juniors.

Written by

David Finetto

January 7 2024

credits: Eurosport

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) secured his fourth consecutive World Cup victory, taking his tenth victory of the season in 10 races. A real record.

The two dominant teams in terms of numbers, Baloise Trek Lions and Crelan-Corendon, were no match for the world champion, who attacked on the fourth of the eight laps demonstrating significantly better pace. An embarrassing superiority.

REPLICA

Joris Nieuwenhuis (Baloise Trek Lions) took second place forcing Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Corendon) to settle for third. Pim Ronhaar (Baloise Trek Lions) finished fourth.

Toon Vandebosch (Crelan-Corendon) was initially in the chasing pack fighting for second place, but a crash on the final run onto the sand saw him lose time and finish 5th, 59 seconds back. World Cup leader Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) fought back to finish in 6th place with 1:11.

van-der-poel-wins-in-zonhoven — credits: Eurosport

I wanted to see how the race would develop. It was cold and it took me a while to find my rhythm. It's a tough race and I didn't want to waste too much energy today – Mathieu Van der Poel

MEN'S ELITE RANKING

1	VAN DER POEL Mathieu	ALPECIN - DECEUNINCK	59:35
2	NIEUWENHUIS Joris	BALOISE TREK LIONS	0:20
3	SWEECK Laurens	CRELAN – CORENDON	0:22
4	RONHAAR Pim	BALOISE TREK LIONS	0:29
5	VANDEBOSCH Toon	CRELAN – CORENDON	0:59
6	ISERBYT Eli	PAUWELS SAUZEN - BINGOAL	1:11
7	VERSTRYNGE Emiel	CRELAN – CORENDON	1:17
8	VAN DER HAIR Lars	BALOISE TREK LIONS	1:39
9	WYSEURE Joran	CRELAN – CORENDON	1:55
10	KAMP Ryan		1:58

COMPLETE RANKING

puck pieterse zonhoven — Puck Pieterse – credits: SportPic Agency

FEMALE ELITE RANKING

1	PIETERSE Puck		51:39
2	VAN DER HEIJDEN Eng	CRELAN – CORENDON	0:24
3	BACKSTEDT Zoe		0:41
4	WORST Annemarie	CYCLOCROSS REDS	1:19
5	ZEMANOVA Kristyna	BRILON RACING TEAM MB	1:24
6	VERDONSCHOT Laura	DE CEUSTER-BONACHE	1:29
7	BENTVELD Leonie	PAUWELS SAUZEN - BINGOAL	2:15
8	VAS Blanka Kata		2:37
9	SING Sanne	CRELAN – CORENDON	2:49
10	MOLENGRAAF Lauren	CHARLES LIÉGEOIS ROASTERY CX	2:58

COMPLETE RANKING

In this article:World Cup, Cyclocross World Cup, Inge Van Der Heijden, Joris Nieuwenhuis, Lauren's Sweeck, Mathieu van der Poel, Racing World, World Cyclocross Racing, Puck Pieterse, Zoe Backstedt, Zonhoven

Written by David Finetto

[email protected] I am a fan of everything that has 2 wheels: at a young age I practiced road and track cycling (Italian Allievi champion). At the age of 18 I passed into the cross country competing at national/international level as an Under23. Past Elite, I made the choice to take things more lightly from a training point of view, and my love for gravity disciplines was born, training me as an FCI MTB instructor and guide. Now I have made passion my profession by managing 2 MTB centers on the island of Elba (Bike Center Elba and Elba MTB), creating the FANTAmtb and telling in an ironic but professional way everything that revolves around MTB thanks to 365mountainbike and 365TV (YouTube'PULITI dentro BIKER fuori').