Mathieu van der Poel won the final round of the World Cup on his home soil in Hoogerheide. The new Dutch champion beat Wout van Aert and Gianni Vermeersch while Kevin Pauwels secured the overall victory.

Last week Tom Meeusen went through an emotional rollercoaster due his non-selection for the Worlds which he eventually managed to overturn. Meeusen wanted - like Sweeck in the U23 race – to ride out all all the frustrations from his body and he did so by getting off to a very fast start. However, the Belgian quickly drifted backwards and finished outside the top 10. That was the signal for Mathieu van der Poel to attacked on the course that had been designed by his father Adrie.

One lap later, the youngest of the Van der Poel brothers was already 15 seconds ahead. For a long time, no one responded until Gianni Vermeersch took off. The Belgian is involved in a tight battle against Tim Merlier, Jens Adams and Bart Wellens for the final spot on the Belgian Worlds team and was motivated to ride a good race. Vermeersch got clear from the rest and went off in pursuit of Mathieu van der Poel, but he never got any closer.

At the halfwat point, van der Poel had a gap of almost a minute while Vermeersch had been joined by Wout van Aert and Kevin Pauwels. Van Aert managed to drop the two Sunweb riders but thanks to the generosity of his teammate Pauwels, he got the final spot on the podium. In their wake Sven Nys and Lars van der Haar battled for fifth place, with the Dutchman coming out on top. 

Laurens Sweeck – who was originally not allowed to start but managed to overturn the decision at the Belgian Court of Arbitration for Sports – won the U23 race.  Italian Eva Lechner won the women’s race while Belgian Eli Iserbyt was fastest in the junior race.

Result:

1. Mathieu van der Poel1.08.38

2. Wout van Aert +1.04

3. Gianni Vermeersch +1.21

4. Kevin Pauwels +1.22

5. Lars van der Haar +1.37

6. Sven Nys +1.56

7. Francis Mourey +2.18

8. Tim Merlier +2.52

9. Jens Adams +2.57

10. Fabien Canal +3.04

Final World Cup standings:

1. Kevin Pauwels 430

2. Lars van der Haar 345

3. Corne van Kessel 307

4. Philipp Walsleben 306

5. Tom Meeusen 290

6. Jens Adams 256

7. Gianni Vermeersch 255

8. Francis Mourey 212

9. Jeremy Powers 210

10. Julien Taramarcaz 209