Van der Poel Rides Lap 1 Attack to Easy Win at Superprestige Ruddervoorde – Report, Results

If the Elite Women’s race at Superprestige Ruddervoorde was defined by patience, the Elite Men’s race was the complete opposite.

In recent weeks, Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon – Circus) has waited a few laps before attacking and going solo for the win. On Sunday, he waited less than a lap.

After Quinten Hermans (Telenet Fidea Lions) took the holeshot and led the first half of the first lap, Van der Poel jumped out of the saddle and accelerated around him to take over the first position.

Using the opposite plan as Vos, Van der Poel stayed on the gas and dropped Hermans, Wout van Aert (Cibel – Cebon Offroad Team) and the others trying to keep his pace.

After one lap Van der Poel’s lead was five seconds. After two, it was up to 12. Midway through the race it was up over a minute. There would be zero waiting for Van der Poel in Ruddervoorde.

The race of interest on Sunday was the one for second. Van Aert and the others were unable to keep pace with Van der Poel’s big move, and they quickly settled into racing for the silver. At times the group swelled to over 10, but Van Aert and Toon Aerts (Telenet Fidea Lions) were usually at the front.

Their work eventually paid off, and the day ended with another Van der Poel, Van Aert, Aerts podium.

Full results are below.

Elite Men's Results: 2018 Superprestige Ruddervoorde

Rank	BIB	Last Name	First Name	Country	Result
1	2	VAN DER POEL	Mathieu	NED	1:00:14
2	1	VAN AERT	Wout	BEL	1:00:49
3	3	AERTS	Toon	BEL	1:00:56
4	41	ISERBYT	Eli	BEL	1:00:59
5	5	VANTHOURENHOUT	Michael	BEL	1:01:14
6	14	MEEUSEN	Tom	BEL	1:01:14
7	4	SWEECK	Laurens	BEL	1:01:16
8	6	VAN DER HAAR	Lars	NED	1:01:19
9	42	PIDCOCK	Thomas	GBR	1:01:30
10	11	PAUWELS	Kevin	BEL	1:01:33
11	9	HERMANS	Quinten	BEL	1:01:35
12	7	MERLIER	Tim	BEL	1:01:36
13	13	ADAMS	Jens	BEL	1:01:36
14	16	VERMEERSCH	Gianni	BEL	1:01:37
15	25	NIEUWENHUIS	Joris	NED	1:02:30
16	22	VANTHOURENHOUT	Dieter	BEL	1:02:38
17	10	VAN DER POEL	David	NED	1:02:43
18	20	BOSMANS	Wietse	BEL	1:02:43
19	21	CLEPPE	Nicolas	BEL	1:02:44
20	54	KIELICH	Timo	BEL	1:02:56
21	12	BOROŠ	Michael	CZE	1:03:09
22	47	ROUILLER	Loris	SUI	1:03:15
23	46	TURNER	Ben	GBR	1:03:27
24	44	VANDEBOSCH	Toon	BEL	1:03:40
25	59	BEKAERT	Yentl	BEL	1:03:40
26	15	BERTOLINI	Gioele	ITA	1:03:55
27	52	MEIN	Thomas	GBR	1:04:29
28	56	VAN DER STEGEN	Roel	NED	1:04:35
29	24	WOUTERS	Sieben	NED	1:04:44
30	23	GODRIE	Stan	NED	1:05:00
31	18	ŤOUPALÍK	Adam	CZE	1:05:21
32	45	DORIGONI	Jakob	ITA	1:05:21
33	58	ARTZ	Bart	NED	1:05:21
34	33	ROELANDT	Kenny	BEL	1:05:40
35	32	BONNE	Jenko	BEL	1:06:10
36	51	ARENSMAN	Thymen	NED	-2 LAPS
37	48	KAMP	Ryan	NED	-2 LAPS
38	39	VAN DIJKE	Tim	NED	-2 LAPS
39	29	VAN COMPERNOLLE	Kenneth	BEL	-3 LAPS
40	38	VAN DIJKE	Mick	NED	-3 LAPS
41	55	VERDONCK	Andres	BEL	-3 LAPS
42	57	LINDGREN	Emil	SWE	-4 LAPS
43	35	VANDENHEEDE	Brecht	BEL	-4 LAPS
44	37	ERIKSSON	David	SWE	-4 LAPS
45	60	QUARTIER	Jonas	BEL	-5 LAPS
46	30	TAKENOUCHI	Yu	JPN	-5 LAPS
47	53	JACOBS	Johan	SUI	-5 LAPS
48	63	DEMEYER	Guillian	BEL	-6 LAPS
DNF	19	SWEECK	Diether	BEL
DNF	31	SMETS	Gert	BEL
DNF	34	ERIKSSON	Martin	SWE
DNF	43	DEKKER	Jens	NED
DNF	49	KOPECKY	Tomas	CZE
DNF	50	TULETT	Daniel	GBR
DNF	62	VLIEGEN	Pieter-Jan	BEL