Cornet van Kessel was the best Dutchman in sixth place. Lars van der Haar was the 10th.
The strong Van Aert broke away from the competition on the second lap and won solo with an impressive show of strength. Entering the third lap, he was already 17secs ahead. Van der Poel started tough and came down after six laps when he was thrown into a crash.
Behind Van Aert, Briton Tom Bidcock plowed into second, ahead of Belgium’s Elie Esserbet, who remains the leader in the standings.
„I saw Matthew was not going well, so I speeded up the wheel anyway. It was a long way to the end, but that’s not a drawback for this course. I had to stay focused, re-laps and try to ride flawlessly. Now it is important to recover well and correctly classify the upcoming crosses. “Of course I try to win every cross I start with and I will do everything to ‘extend’ my title in Belgium,” Van Aert said.
The Jumbo-Visma rider didn’t want to talk about the World Cup early next year. “I am afraid it will become a daily question. But I have already said it and I will say it again: I do not want to talk about it until after the Belgian championship.” The World Cyclocross Championships will be held on January 29-30 in Fayetteville, United States.
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