SINT-MICHIELSGESTEL, The Netherlands—Mathieu van der Poel returned after a nasty crash and bruised neck suffered at the 2016 Azencross to take his third-straight Dutch Cyclocross National Championships.
Van der Poel, perhaps due to his recent injury or simply knowing his rival Wout van Aert was off to defend his Belgian Championship, displayed an atypical level of patience and conservative racing, following the wheels of Corne van Kessel (Telenet Fidea Lions) and new Sunweb signee U23 star Joris Nieuwenhuis.
Lars van der Haar (Telenet Fidea Lions), also on the comeback trail, chased in fourth, while former World Champ Lars Boom (Lotto Jumbo) never factored.
In the Dutch Championships, the U23 men race in the same event as the Elite, and Nieuwenhuis and Van Kessel took turns at the front trying to keep Van der Poel on the defensive. While it worked for a few laps, Van der Poel eventually made contact, moved to the front, and seized the lead for good.
At the young age of 22, Van der Poel has already won his third Elite National Championship, but hopes to trade the red white and blue jersey for a rainbow-striped jersey later this month.
Bunnyhopping to my 3th national Elite jersey in a row ?? pic.twitter.com/xCCNphK5k3
— Mathieu Van der Poel (@mathieuvdpoel) January 8, 2017
Behind, Van Kessel led a Telenet-Fidea sweep of the remaining podium positions, while Nieuwenhuis crossed the line in third, but won the U23 title.
Full results from the Dutch championships men’s race below the highlight videos.
2017 Dutch Cyclocross National Championships Highlight Videos – Elite Men:
2017 Dutch Cyclocross National Championships Full Race Video – Elite Men:
2017 Dutch Cyclocross National Championships Results - Elite Men
| Rank | Name | Nat. | Age* | Result | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mathieu Van Der Poel | NED | 22 | 58:12:00 | 100 |
| 2 | Corne Van Kessel | NED | 26 | 58:32:00 | 60 |
| 3 | Lars Van Der Haar | NED | 26 | 58:40:00 | 40 |
| 4 | David Van Der Poel | NED | 25 | 58:59:00 | 30 |
| 5 | Stan Godrie | NED | 24 | 59:10:00 | 25 |
| 6 | Patrick Van Leeuwen | NED | 32 | 1:00:30 | 20 |
| 7 | Gert-Jan Bosman | NED | 25 | 1:00:36 | 15 |
| 8 | Lars Boom | NED | 32 | 1:01:23 | 10 |
| 9 | Niels Wubben | NED | 29 | 1:01:35 | 5 |
| 10 | Thijs Van Amerongen | NED | 31 | 1:01:53 | 3 |
| 11 | Boy Van Poppel | ||||
| 12 | Douwe Verberne | ||||
| 13 | Mitchell Huenders | ||||
| 14 | Bart Bakhuis | ||||
| 15 | Roderik Egberink | ||||
| 16 | Joep Van Gennip | ||||
| 17 | Rowan Bergmans | ||||
| 18 | Jeroen Janssen | ||||
| 19 | Vincent Fackeldey | ||||
| 20 | Joost Van Wijngaarden |
