by Mathias Dewaelsche
After Tom Pidcock and Sanne Cant won the earlier races in the day at Krawatencross Lille, could Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon Circus) deliver a rare triple rainbow sighting for the fans?
Lille has been the site of beautiful duels, but someone would need to fill Wout van Aert’s role on the day as the former world champion competed for the final time of the season last Wednesday.
Duel or no duel, the last DVV cross of the season was on tap. Except for the Koppenbergcross, Van der Poel won every single DVV cross, with wins in Niel, Hamme, Antwerp, Loenhout, Baal and Brussels.
Despite finishing more than 4 minutes behind on the Koppenberg, Van der Poel had the lead in the DVV trofee with a 58-second advantage on Belgian champion Toon Aerts (Telenet Fidea). Could he keep up his winning ways with a 29th victory of the season?
Once the gun fired, Belgian Quinten Hermans (Telenet Fidea) showed he was motivated, taking the holeshot. The Van der Poel brothers followed in second and third position. Aerts also had a good start and followed in fourth position.
Not everyone was fast off the line. Laurens Sweeck (Pauwels Sauzen–Vastgoedservice) and former U23 world champion Eli Iserbyt (Marlux Bingoal) were quickly caught in traffic.
Halfway into the first lap, on a long straight before a right turn into the woods, Van der Poel put in a massive acceleration and was clear in a blink of an eye. Was that the race?
At the intermediate point, the chasing group, led by Joris Nieuwenhuis (Sunweb), was already six seconds behind. At the end of the first of eight laps, Van der Poel still had a six-second advantage with only Nieuwenhuis within sight.
In the second lap, Aerts took the lead in the group behind Nieuwenhuis. He pulled Vanthourenhout, Hermans, Van Kessel and Van der Haar back on Nieuwenhuis’ wheel.
At the intermediate point Van der Poel took the 2500€ prize. At the end of the second lap he had a 13-second advantage on Hermans. The rest were seeing their chances of victory get churned up in the sand ahead.
Despite the barriers on the course being only 30 cm tall, Van der Haar crashed in the third lap when he tried to bunnyhop over the second barrier. At the end of the third lap Van der Poel had a 19 seconds advantage on sole chaser Hermans.
The group behind Hermans now consisted of eight men and was 34 seconds behind on Van der Poel. Vanthourenhout was the first one to raise the pace. Only Van Kessel followed the racer from Western Flanders, until Van Kessel crashed entering the second pit area. Technical problems added to Van Kessel’s problems, and suddenly, Vanthourenhout was the new sole chaser. At the end of the fourth lap he was 32 seconds behind on Van der Poel.
At the beginning of the fifth lap, Van der Poel showed he’s human by crashing, giving the chasers hope. The gap was down to 20 seconds. In the meantime, van der Haar recovered well from his crash on the barriers and took the lead in the group chasing Vanthourenhout. The chasing group now consisted of seven riders: Aerts, Sweeck, Nieuwenhuis, Van der Haar, Vanthourenhout, Jim Aernouts and David van der Poel. A little later Daan Soete and unlucky ones Hermans and Van Kessel joined the chasing group.
At the end of the sixth lap the ten-strong chasing group was almost 40 seconds behind. Then Aerts decided to take the lead in the chasing group. He set a high pace that only Vanthourenhout was able to maintain.
Van der Poel entered the last lap with a 21-second advantage on Aerts and Vanthourenhout. Apparently, Van der Poel dropped his pace a little.
In the last lap Vanthourenhout shed Aerts, and sprinted down the finishing straight with the leader in sight. But up front, the rainbow parade was reaching its finale. Van der Poel soft-pedaled and celebrated another extension to his win streak, and remained undefeated in his 2019 rainbow jersey.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Btqnv1FnljB/
Van der Poel found the pot of golde by winning the DVV trofee. Toon Aerts finished second in the final classification with a 1 minute 26 seconds arrear and Vanthourenhout third, behind 5 minutes and 50 seconds.
Six North Americans took the start. Kerry Werner (Kona Maxxis Shimano) finished 30th, Eric Thompson (Molten Speedwax) finished 35th, Michael van den Ham 36th (Garneau Easton p/b Transitions Life Care), Andrew Juiliano (Grit World Racing) 39th, Dylan Postier 42nd (Garneau Easton p/b Transitions LifeCare), and Tyler Cloutier 43rd.
Full results below.
Featured photo: 2015 Koksijde, B. Hazen
2019 DVV Krawatencross Lille Results: Elite Men
| Rank | BIB | Last Name | First Name | Country | Age | Result | UCI Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | VAN DER POEL | Mathieu | NED | 24 | 1:03:29 | CORENDON - CIRCUS |
| 2 | 5 | VANTHOURENHOUT | Michael | BEL | 26 | 1:03:38 | MARLUX - BINGOAL |
| 3 | 2 | AERTS | Toon | BEL | 26 | 1:03:42 | TELENET FIDEA LIONS |
| 4 | 4 | VAN DER HAAR | Lars | NED | 28 | 1:03:43 | TELENET FIDEA LIONS |
| 5 | 3 | SWEECK | Laurens | BEL | 26 | 1:03:43 | PAUWELS SAUZEN - VASTGOEDSERVICE |
| 6 | 11 | VAN DER POEL | David | NED | 27 | 1:03:45 | CORENDON - CIRCUS |
| 7 | 7 | VAN KESSEL | Corne | NED | 28 | 1:03:46 | TELENET FIDEA LIONS |
| 8 | 16 | NIEUWENHUIS | Joris | NED | 23 | 1:03:46 | |
| 9 | 42 | HERMANS | Quinten | BEL | 24 | 1:04:00 | TELENET FIDEA LIONS |
| 10 | 18 | AERNOUTS | Jim | BEL | 30 | 1:04:04 | TELENET FIDEA LIONS |
| 11 | 54 | SOETE | Daan | BEL | 25 | 1:04:17 | PAUWELS SAUZEN - VASTGOEDSERVICE |
| 12 | 17 | ORTS LLORET | Felipe | ESP | 24 | 1:04:36 | DELIKIA - GINESTAR |
| 13 | 14 | BOROŠ | Michael | CZE | 27 | 1:04:45 | CREAFIN TÜV SUD |
| 14 | 6 | PAUWELS | Kevin | BEL | 35 | 1:04:51 | MARLUX - BINGOAL |
| 15 | 12 | ADAMS | Jens | BEL | 27 | 1:04:53 | PAUWELS SAUZEN - VASTGOEDSERVICE |
| 16 | 20 | AERTS | Thijs | BEL | 23 | 1:04:54 | TELENET FIDEA LIONS |
| 17 | 9 | MEEUSEN | Tom | BEL | 31 | 1:04:56 | CORENDON - CIRCUS |
| 18 | 43 | CLEPPE | Nicolas | BEL | 24 | 1:05:12 | TELENET FIDEA LIONS |
| 19 | 21 | VANTHOURENHOUT | Dieter | BEL | 34 | 1:05:21 | MARLUX - BINGOAL |
| 20 | 8 | ISERBYT | Eli | BEL | 22 | 1:05:35 | MARLUX - BINGOAL |
| 21 | 33 | UYTDEWILLIGEN | Ingmar | BEL | 28 | 1:05:45 | TARTELETTO - ISOREX |
| 22 | 15 | SWEECK | Diether | BEL | 26 | 1:06:09 | PAUWELS SAUZEN - VASTGOEDSERVICE |
| 23 | 23 | WOUTERS | Sieben | NED | 23 | 1:06:45 | CREAFIN TÜV SUD |
| 24 | 24 | BAESTAENS | Vincent | BEL | 30 | 1:06:54 | |
| 25 | 22 | GODRIE | Stan | NED | 26 | 1:07:26 | TEAM CHARLES |
| 26 | 57 | VAN DIJKE | Koen | NED | 23 | 1:07:46 | |
| 27 | 19 | BOSMANS | Wietse | BEL | 28 | 1:07:46 | CREAFIN TÜV SUD |
| 28 | 36 | TIELEN | Dario | BEL | 25 | 1:07:48 | |
| 29 | 39 | ESTEBAN AGUERO | Ismael | ESP | 36 | 1:07:58 | DELIKIA - GINESTAR |
| 30 | 29 | WERNER | Kerry | USA | 28 | 1:08:11 | |
| 31 | 32 | VAN COMPERNOLLE | Kenneth | BEL | 31 | 1:08:18 | |
| 32 | 35 | DE MEYER | Senne | BEL | 23 | 1:08:34 | |
| 33 | 31 | GYS | Jens | BEL | 30 | 1:08:55 | |
| 34 | 47 | BAKX | Kelvin | NED | 23 | 1:09:23 | |
| 35 | 41 | THOMPSON | Eric | USA | 30 | 1:09:45 | |
| 36 | 26 | VAN DEN HAM | Michael | CAN | 27 | 1:10:21 | GARNEAU-EASTON p/b TRANSITIONS LIFECARE |
| 37 | 55 | ALDERWEIRELD | Robin | BEL | 23 | 1:10:39 | |
| 38 | 58 | LEAERTS | Yelle | BEL | 25 | 1:10:54 | |
| 39 | 44 | JUILIANO | Andrew | USA | 31 | -2 LAPS | |
| 40 | 34 | DE WIT | Edwin | BEL | 36 | -2 LAPS | |
| 41 | 30 | KOYEN | Niels | BEL | 28 | -2 LAPS | |
| 42 | 28 | POSTIER | Dylan | USA | 28 | -3 LAPS | GARNEAU-EASTON p/b TRANSITIONS LIFECARE |
| 43 | 37 | CLOUTIER | Tyler | USA | 30 | -4 LAPS | |
| 44 | 51 | CAROZZO | Marco | ITA | 23 | -4 LAPS | |
| 45 | 38 | MEELBERGHS | Pieter | BEL | 31 | -4 LAPS | |
| 46 | 48 | PARENTI | Nicola | ITA | 23 | -4 LAPS | |
| 25 | PEETERS | Yannick | BEL | 23 | DNF | PAUWELS SAUZEN - VASTGOEDSERVICE | |
| 40 | SWEECK | Hendrik | BEL | 27 | DNF | ||
| 45 | EDHOFER | Thomas | GER | 34 | DNS | ||
| 59 | GOOSEN | Wouter | BEL | 33 | DNS |
