Mathieu van der Poel’s winning streak came to an end at the Benidorm World Cup, but today the World Champion once again demonstrated all his superiority, defeating a strong Michael Vanthourenhout at the X2O Trophy Hamme.
Michael Vanthourenhout dominates early action
Michael Vanthourenhout had a perfect start and took the lead of the race. Van der Poel was pushed at the start and was in sixth place. The European champion quickly developed a strong pace with Van der Poel sensing the danger and accelerating.
Eli Iserbyt, Toon Vandebosch, Niels Vandeputte and Lars van der Haar also managed to join the two and a leading group of six cyclists was formed.
First MVPP acceleration
Mathieu Van der Poel’s first strong acceleration came 25 minutes into the race. The Alpecin-Deceuninck athlete got a good lead, although one cyclist seemed to be able to keep up with him: European Champion Michael Vanthourenhout.
Final attack with 4 laps to the finish
When there were still 4 laps to go before the finish line, the World Champion’s final attack came. He gained a 20 second advantage over Vanthourenhout and maintained it until the end of the race. Eli Iserbyt, Belgian champion finished in 3rd place.
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X²O Badkamers Trofee results
