UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships: van der Poel dominates men’s elite, Pidcock second (+ videos)

Mathieu​ van der Poel of the Netherlands has won the men’s elite title at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championship, with Great Britain’s Tom Pidcock taking silver and Toon Aerts of Belgium securing the bronze medal.

With the circuit in Dübendorf, Switzerland turned into a quagmire today by heavy rain that fell throughout, defending champion and red-hot favourite van der Poel, who first won the title in 2015, sprinted away from the field right from the start and eventually won by 1 minute 20 seconds.

Pidcock, a past champion at junior and under-23 level, extricated himself from a chasing group of Belgians to get into the silver medal position and while Aerts tried to close him down, he pulled away again to seal the runner’s up spot in his elite world championship debut and become the first British male rider to make an elite podium at a cyclo-cross world championships.

The next four places were filled by Belgians, with fourth place going to former world champion Wout Van Aert, who came late to competition this season due to his injuries sustained in a crash at the Tour de France.

📣
"I think it's one of the hardest races I've ever done!"

- @mathieuvdpoel 🇳🇱🌈 may have made his third Elite World title look easy, but he says it wasn't! #Dubendorf2020 pic.twitter.com/tLWH6FliPV

— UCI Cyclocross (@UCI_CX) February 2, 2020

"To be honest, I didn't think I'd be that strong!" 🗣

Well done @tompid who wins Britain's first ever elite medal in cyclo-cross at the 2020 @UCI_CX World Championships! 🙌🇬🇧#Dubendorf2020 pic.twitter.com/yfVahYy9FZ

— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) February 2, 2020

The day began with Belgium – which failed to get a single rider onto the podium in any of yesterday’s three races – taking a clean sweep of the medals at the men’s junior race, won by Thibau Nys whose father Sven is one of the all-time greats in the discipline.

France’s Marion Norbert Riberolle then put in just as dominant a performance as van der Poel’s to win the women’s under-23 title from Hungary’s Kata Blanka Vas, with Great Britain’s Anna Kay clinching bronze, the country’s first medal of the championships.

Yesterday’s opening day saw the Netherlands win seven out of the nine medals on offer, and winning all three races including the women’s junior race – the first time it has been included in the programme – and the men’s under-23 race.

The highlight of an opening day raced in dry conditions that provided a striking contrast to today’s mudbath though was the women’s elite race, which saw a Dutch clean sweep of the podium as Ceylin Del CarmenAlvarado outsprinted a distraught Annemarie Worst to win the rainbow jersey, with Lucinda Brand in third.

WHAT. A. FINISH!

Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado sprints to World Championship victory at #Dubendorf2020!
🌈@AnnemarieMTB just misses out in 2nd whilst @lucinda_brand rolls in for bronze.

🇳🇱🇳🇱🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/0EkIAvDn2H

— UCI Cyclocross (@UCI_CX) February 1, 2020