Wout van Aert rewards home crowd with sound victory over Van der Poel in Koksijde

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The Wout van Aert/Mathieu van der Poel season win ratio swung to 5-3 in Van Aert's favour on Thursday at the Duinencross in Koksijde. The Belgian champion powered away from his Dutch rival midway through the race and soloed over the hilly, sandy course to a commanding victory. Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Fristads) was best of the rest in third.

Van der Poel started the race strongly but seemed to be favouring his back as Van Aert strode away but proved strong enough to hold onto second place more than a minute adrift. Although Van der Poel got the better of his Belgian nemesis in their first meeting at the Antwerp World Cup in early December, the Boxing Day World Cup in Gavere, and the X2O Trofee race in Herentals on Tuesday, Van Aert topped the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider in the Zilvermeercross, back-to-back Superprestige races (Zolder and Diegem) last month, Azencross in Loenhout and now the historic Koksijde Duinencross.

Van Aert made his move on lap 4 and never looked back, powering smoothly through the deep sand and increasingly greasy mud for another solo victory.

Van Aert explained that his early swap from slick tyres to Dugast Typhoon treads made the difference. "It was necessary," he said. "A little rain fell before the start, but it had little impact on the course, so I dared to ride with slick tires. However, during the cross, the rain became more intense. I decided to swap bikes because I didn't want to take unnecessary risks throughout the race. In retrospect, that turned out to be a wise decision.

"It's always nice to win like this, especially because I felt really strong today and was really eager to take this win. In the second half of the race I think I showed my form is really good. I could really recover in between the sand sections and avoid too many mistakes, so I'm really pleased," Van Aert said.

Van der Poel gave a small wave to the fans as he finished 1:38 behind, while Sweeck high-fived the crowed 2:06 behind in third.

"My back hurt a lot today. I don't know where it came from because the last races were really good, actually. It's a problem I have to work on and I hope it will be OK on Sunday again," Van der Poel explained at the finish.

The battle for the series played out behind, as Lars van der Haar (Baloise Trek Lions) tried to get away from leader Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) but lost contact in the closing lap and lost another six seconds in the time-based GC.

How it unfolded

Light rain greeted the men's field for the Duinencross in Koksijde, round 5 of the X2O Badkamers Trofee. Leader Iserbyt started with a 1:28 lead over Dutch champion Van der Haar but their battle for the general classification would play out well behind the two of the 'big three' of cyclocross - Belgian champion Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck.

Tim Merlier had a very fast start to join the front of the cyclocross fray for the first time in his new Soudal-QuickStep kit, but it was Toon Vandenbosch (Alpecin-Deceuninck) who took the holeshot with Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Fristads) close behind. Van Aert and Van der Poel bided their time behind. In the absence of Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) who crashed in the GP Sven Nys on New Year's Day, Sweeck emerged as the closest rival to the duo.

Sweeck led up the dune for the first time, kick-pushing his way to the top to open a gap on the other side. Sweeck only served as a rabbit for Van der Poel to chase, and the Dutchman surged past in the sand, threw off his glasses and pressed on with the Belgian on his wheel.

Van der Poel continued to push the pace, drawing Van Aert out in third. He came past Sweeck on lap 2 and set off in pursuit, joining his rival for another battle royale. Sweeck rejoined them on the dune as the rain began to fall, changing the course conditions. The trio ended the second lap together. Behind, Eli Iserbyt surged to chase down Niels Vandeputte (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and came across in a group 34 seconds behind the leader.

Van Aert went in for a bike change early in lap three and almost slid out and had to close a small gap to Sweeck and Van der Poel. Again, on the dune, Sweeck proved his skills and rode over the crest - as did the Dutchman - while Van Aert lost ground having to run it.

It was no problem for the Jumbo-Visma man to rejoin, and he attacked with urgency in the tough sand section later in the lap and opened up a sizeable lead over Van der Poel and Sweeck into the next dune.

Such was the speed of the leader that he already lapped backmarker Kaji Tetsuki (Japan Photo Finishe) and ended lap 4 with an 18-second advantage on Van der Poel and 34 seconds on Sweeck. Van der Haar had a slim two-second lead on series rival Iserbyt.

The dune caused the riders at the back some grief, with American Ben Frederick taking an artful tumble and a bow to the crowd in jest. Much further ahead, Van Aert continued to mow down the backmarkers and Van der Poel began to struggle - showing signs his back might be bothering him - and made mistakes in the tricky sandpit sections. He ended lap 5 with a 52-second deficit to Van Aert and it continued to go out.

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