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Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) found himself in unfamiliar territory coming into Sunday’s UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Hulst.

Although the race in Zeeland is in his home country, this year the pandemic storm blew it away from the traditional course in the shadow of the iconic windmill, a course where Van der Poel enjoyed his 32nd victory of the season in 2019 and 30th victory in 2018.

In this shortened season, Van der Poel headed into Hulst without even double-digit victories notched on his 2020/2021 season’s belt.

He also took to the start coming off a World Cup loss and lining up to the strange sight of rival Wout van Aert in a series leader’s jersey.

Van Aert delivered Van der Poel’s third defeat of the season at the run-heavy, criticism-laden Dendermond World Cup earlier this week.

The race began with Toon Aerts (Baloise Trek Lions) taking to the front on a course he had complimented earlier in the week.

Van der Poel followed the tall Belgian, while Van Aert and rivals were gapped and gave chase.

While Aerts may have found the new course to his liking, Van der Poel didn’t find Aert’s pace to his liking. He took off on the second lap for his own Sunday ride.

Aerts faded while the top cyclocrossers of the season emerged to sort out the final podium positions.

Tom Pidcock (Trinity Racing), Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma) and Michael Vanthourehout (Pauwels Sauzen – Bingoal) were left fighting for the other two podium spots in a chaotic race.

Racers crashed coming off the flyover, and at a critical moment, Van Aert was held up.

Van Aert entered the pits for a fresh bike, only to have his clean bike pulled from him as he was about to grab it and remount.

While it looked like a mental lapse on his pit mechanic’s part, it was more innocent than that. See more details here.

For a moment, Pidcock and Van Aert were locked in a battle that looked like it would come down to the wire.

In the end, the gaps were secure well before the line. Van der Poel took the victory with a whopping 91-second margin over Van Aert, with Pidcock another 18 seconds in arrears.

Americans Curtis White, Jonathan Anderson, Andrew Giniat and Jules van Kempen came in 21st, 48th, 49th and 50th respectively.

Canadian Michael van den Ham came in 34th.

Full results below.

2021 World Cup Hulst Results: Elite Men

RankBIBRiderNationAgeResult
11VAN DER POEL MathieuNED261:05:27
218VAN AERT WoutBEL271:06:58
355PIDCOCK ThomasGBR221:07:16
416VANTHOURENHOUT MichaelBEL281:08:08
515AERTS ToonBEL281:08:34
62VAN DER HAAR LarsNED301:08:46
717HERMANS QuintenBEL261:08:59
814SWEECK LaurensBEL281:09:04
94KAMP RyanNED211:09:39
103VAN KESSEL CorneNED301:10:13
119RONHAAR PimNED201:10:21
1219VERMEERSCH GianniBEL291:10:28
135NIEUWENHUIS JorisNED251:10:34
1422AERTS ThijsBEL251:10:38
1520SOETE DaanBEL271:10:41
1629KUHN KevinSUI231:11:31
1723MERLIER TimBEL291:11:51
1826FERDINANDE AntonBEL21
1925BEKAERT YentlBEL22
2057TURNER BenGBR22
2131WHITE CurtisUSA26
2224KIELICH TimoBEL22
2330RÜEGG TimonSUI25
2437MENUT DavidFRA29
2510HENDRIKX MeesNED21
2621BAESTAENS VincentBEL32
2750FEIJOO ALBERTE IvanESP22
286VAN DER POEL DavidNED29
2935BOROŠ MichaelCZE29
3048ORTS LLORET FelipeESP26
3144ANANIE UgoFRA19
3242GUILLAUD ValentinFRA24
3349SUAREZ FERNANDEZ KevinESP27
3452VAN DEN HAM MichaelCAN29
3551JUNQUERA SAN MILLAN MarioESP24
3646MORICHON MathieuFRA26
3712VERBURG LukeNED20
388VAN DER HEIJDEN MaikNED24
3941PHILIBERT AurélienFRA26
4053SAMPARISI NicolasITA29
4139CRISPIN MickaëlFRA23
427GODRIE StanNED28
4343MAINGUENAUD TomFRA21
4454SAMPARISI LorenzoITA28
4545TROPARDY ArthurFRA30
4667PRIES CédricLUX21
4766CONROY DavidIRL23
4833ANDERSON JonathanUSA25
4932GINIAT AndrewUSA30
5034VAN KEMPEN JulesUSA19
56MEIN ThomasGBR22
13ISERBYT EliBEL24