A highly-anticipated round of the top-tier series saw Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) return to cyclocross with a blistering opening lap. Still, Van der Poel quickly caught and passed his rival, dominating the race to take a solo win.
"Antwerp is a race that I really like, and I think today was also technical, and finally, I felt OK," Van der Poel said in a post-race interview, noting that he felt a bit sore following the crash in Boom but that it did not affect his race.
"I felt good. I got a good gap and then maintained it, so I'm pretty happy today."
A strong opener to his season, Van Aert finished in second place at 23 seconds back, and European Champion Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal) was in third at 34 seconds back on the day.
Asked if he was satisfied with the start of his cyclocross season, Van Aert said, "Yes. It was an unexpected podium result, and nice to race again with such nice crowds. One time I crashed into the barriers. It was a shame I forgot to practice this, but it's something to work on in the next weeks. I was in control for the rest of the course and tried to race under my limits to avoid these mistakes. When Mathieu was attacking, it was way too fast, and I understood that I should focus on second place."
World Champion Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), who won the previous day's race in Boom, had a slower start in 29th place, but a consistent performance saw him move up on each lap and finish eighth.
How it unfolded
The Antwerp round of the World Cup series saw the return of Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) to join rivals Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Deceuninck) and World Champion Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), who formed the 'big three' of champions on the start line.
Van Aert started in the third row but reached the second position before the holeshot, leading the race in just the first few hundred metres.
The Belgian put his rivals under pressure and gave no one a chance to move forward, but Mees Hendrikx (Crelan-Fristads) was on his wheel after a promising start, followed by Dutch Champion Lars van der Haar (Baloise Trek Lions). There was then a small gap between Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Fristads), Swiss champion Kevin Kuhn (Tormans) and Van der Poel.
Pidcock had a noticeably slower start, caught behind inside the top 30 of the field on the opening lap, but gradually moved through the riders every lap.
As Van Aert kept the speed high, a reshuffling of rivals in his wake saw Van der Haar and Van der Poel come forward to connect with him at the front.
At the start of the second lap, Van der Haar posted the lap time of 8:39, followed by Van Aert, Van der Poel, and then two seconds to Sweeck, European Champion Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal), Hendrikx and Kuhn.
Van der Poel, who started the day as a question mark after crashing and injuring his left knee and shoulder at Superprestige Boom, pulled away from the lead group at the start of the second lap.
Van Aert's pace appeared to steady and then slowed as he led the chase group that included Vanthourenhout and Van der Haar. Further back, Pidcock continued to work his way forward to 15th but was 44 seconds back and out of contention at the start of the third lap.
Van der Poel had the fastest lap times at 8:19 as he raced through the start of the fourth lap (of seven) with 13 seconds ahead of Van Aert, now alone in the pursuit of the leader. Vanthourenhout had dropped to 18 seconds back, and Sweeck 24 seconds back. Pidcock moved up to ninth.
As his lap times continued to get faster and faster, clocking in at 8:15 at the start of lap six, Van der Poel continued to stretch his lead out to 24 seconds.
Van Aert began to show signs of fatigue when he crashed while attempting to ride over the barriers on the sixth lap, but he was back on his bike quickly, only losing a few precious seconds, and still racing firmly in second place. He chose the safer option of running the barriers on the last lap.
Van der Poel crossed through to start the final lap with a healthy lead and, barring mistakes or crashes, assured himself the victory in Antwerp.
The race for second place was also firmly in Van Aert's grasp, and Vanthourenhout held onto third place after a close race from Sweeck in fourth and Van der Haar in fifth.
Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.
