Mathieu van der Poel and Wout Van Aert delivered stunning performances in one of the most anticipated matchups at the 2023 UCI Cyclocross World Championships. 40 riders from 18 countries battled it out for the rainbow bands, but it was clear who the huge crowd was there to see.
UCI Cyclocross World Championships Results Here
The anticipation for the race billed as the clash of the cyclocross titans with not one but two clear favorites had been building all season. The crowd went wild when the two star riders were called up to the line. A man dressed in Belgian colors could be seen hoisting his son onto his shoulders to see Van Aert roll past as the field lined up at the start.
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Last Sunday, van der Poel himself had predicted that the race win was going to be a tossup, only adding to the build up. "It will probably be 50/50,” van der Poel said last week when he was fresh off the World Cup race win in Besancon, France.
Course conditions were less damp than the day before for the Elite Women’s race, with clear, sunny skies and relatively mild temperatures. Tens of thousands of fans packed the course, most of them bundled up in scarves and hats designed with the country colors of the riders they were cheering for (there was also at least one dinosaur costume, because after all, this is cyclocross).
The riders flew through dry and fast straight, swoopy sections punctuated by deeply rutted, muddy corners. The course didn’t force the riders to do much running, nor were bike changes a factor, with the dry course taking the outsized influence mechanicals can have on a race out of the equation. This race was purely mano-a-mono.
MVDP made his first move and took the lead over a bridge so quickly and smoothly that only Van Aert could respond. The epic duel of the race began then, in the first lap of the race, with the gap to the head of the field remaining around 20 seconds for the remainder of the 10 (10!) laps. MVDP stretched Van Aert like a rubber band with an attack over the bridge and then again after he flew over the barriers during every lap.
MVDP attempted to break Van Aert during the third lap with blistering attack; Van Aert is barely able to keep the wheel. van der Poel then repeated this cycle for another seven laps.
Ultimately the race was decided moments after van der Poel dropped the hammer and attacked on the finishing straight, outsprinting Van Aert to win the rainbow jersey for the fifth time.
“This was for sure in my top three of nicest victories of all time and for sure I’m going to remember this for a long time,” van der Poel said after the finish. “I felt super relaxed and I think that was maybe the key to win today. I could stay really calm. I think everybody expected me to make a move at the barriers, but I already knew I just wanted to go to the sprint.”
For van der Poel, it's the fifth time in his career that he’s won the elite men’s rainbow jersey. Van Aert has won three rainbow jerseys and this marks his fourth time finishing second in the world in CX.
The race winner said of his rival: “We both bring each other to a higher level, but also the sport—I’ve never seen anything like this in cyclocross. Sometimes we are a bit worried about each other, but after our careers we will be really proud about all the medals we’ve had. It’s a super cool story we are writing. The road season is coming already and then it will be for sure against him again.”
Elite Men - Top 10
- Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands)
- Wout van Aert (Belgium)
- Eli Iserbyt (Belgium)
- Lars van der Haar (Netherlands)
- Michael Vanthourenhout (Belgium)
- Gerben Kuypers (Belgium)
- Niels Vandeputte (Belgium)
- Laurens Sweeck (Belgium)
- Cameron Mason (Great Britain)
- Clement Venturini (France)
U23 Women - Top 3
- Shirin van Anrooij (Netherlands)
- Zoe Backstedt (Great Britain)
- Kristyna Zemanová (Czech Republic)
Junior Men - Top 3
- Léo Bisiaux (France)
- Senna Remijn (Netherlands)
- Yordi Corsus (Belgium)
Natascha Grief got her first bike shop job before she was old enough to drink. After a six-year stint as a mechanic, earning a couple pro-mechanic certifications and her USA Cycling Race Mechanics license, she became obsessed with framebuilding and decided she wanted to do that next. After Albert Eistentraut literally shooed her off his doorstep, admonishing that if she pursued framebuilding she will be poor forever, she landed an apprenticeship with framebuilder Brent Steelman in her hometown of Redwood City, CA. After that, she spent several years working for both large and not-so-large cycling brands. Somewhere in there she also became a certified bike fitter. Natascha then became a certified personal trainer and spent nine years honing her skills as a trainer and coach, while also teaching Spin. During the dumpster fire that was the year 2020, she opened a fitness studio and began contributing regularly to Runner’s World and Bicycling as a freelance writer. In 2022, she joined the staff of Bicycling as News Editor.
