Van Aert was the great titan in the mud of cyclocross
The forums cyclists they had been waiting for the duel for months. There was some concern because Mathieu van der Poel He had been injured and it was not known how he would get there, in what way and even if he would attend what had already been baptized as the 'Boxing Day' of cyclo-cross, which was not seen since the World Cup held in January and what ventured as the first confrontation between Raymond Poulidor's grandson and his great opponent and rival Wout van Aert, the two prodigies not only of the mud, of the fat wheels, but of much of cycling, regardless of the modality, throughout the season ... even in the Tour.
The appointment was in Dandermonde, one of the temples of the cyclocross, in Belgium. And the stage presented all the attractions for the cycling meeting to be spectacular: mud, puddles, steps where it was necessary to carry the bike on shoulder and sand in which one should be more of a tightrope walker than a runner.
Spectacular outing
The start was already spectacular. Red and green traffic lights, just like the game of a grand prize of Formula One. With no points in the World Cup, Van der Poel started from what could be called the third row of the grid. And in a pleat, at the wheel of his brother David, already placed in the top five with a Van aert that started more conservatively until in the third of the eight laps of the circuit, where a total of 20 kilometers was completed, the Belgian cyclist of the Jumbo put dirt (or rather mud) in between.
Van aert is proving intractable this winter season in which he had not yet faced Van der poel. He has played four cyclocros and has won them. Van der poel, the current champion of the specialty, does not care about falling now defeated before the other great titan of the modality. He is content with winning the World Cup in the US on January 30.
