Dutch cyclist Mathieu van der Poel was crowned world road cycling champion on Sunday in Glasgow, Scotland.
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On Sunday, August 6, the Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel was crowned road cycling world champion. He won alone after a daunting race on the Glasgow street circuit.
The grandson of Raymond Poulidor, the first Dutch world champion since Joop Zoetemelk in 1985, won despite a crash on a rain-soaked road, flying alone with 22km to go.
Sliding into a turn about 16 kilometers from the finish, he was able to mobilize to continue to extend, with a damaged shoe and a torn combination, his advantage over a trio of real pursuers, made up of Belgian Wout Van Aert, second as in 2020 A 1 min 37 sec from the winner, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, third, and the Dane Mads Pedersen.
Winner of Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix this year
At 28, Mathieu van der Poel – who was able to savor his victory for a long time with his head in his hands – succeeds the exporter of the rainbow jersey, the Belgian Remco Evenepeol, who did not know how to keep up with the best on Sunday.
Winner of Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix this year, Mathieu van der Poel, already a five-time cyclocross world champion, confirms with this victory that he is the best one-day racer at the moment.
Fighter and acrobat at the same time, he imposed his power and his driving science that did wonders in a labyrinthine circuit of 14.3 kilometers with 48 curves to be covered ten times, forcing the vast majority of the peloton to retire, under heavy rain.
Mathieu van der Poel’s victory comes a year after he retired after 30 kilometers at the 2022 World Cup in Australia and spent the night at the station after an altercation with two teenagers at his hotel.
He will also seek world gold next Saturday in mountain biking during these “Super Worlds” in Scotland.
Unlike the last three years, France left without a medal. The Blues have never managed to weigh in the race. Their designated leader Christophe Laporte, world runner-up in the title, was delayed due to a mechanical problem at the worst moment when the Belgians and Danes were forcing the pace in the lead, one hundred kilometers from the finish line.
He retired a few laps later in the company of Julian Alaphilippe, double world champion in 2020 and 2021.
with AFP
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