Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel was crowned road cycling world champion on Sunday 6 August. He won alone at the end of a Dantesque race on the street circuit of Glasgow.

The grandson of Raymond Poulidor, the first Dutch world champion since Joop Zoetemelk in 1985, won despite a fall on a road soaked by showers, while he had flown alone 22 kilometers from the finish.

Sliding in a corner about 16 kilometers from the goal, he was able to remobilize to continue to extend, with a damaged shoe and a torn combination, his lead over a trio of royal pursuers, composed of the Belgian Wout Van Aert, second as in 2020 at 1 min 37 sec of the winner, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, third, and Denmark's Mads Pedersen.

Winner of Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix this year

At 28, Mathieu van der Poel – who was able to savor his triumph for a long time by holding his head in his hands – succeeds the former wearer of the rainbow jersey, the Belgian Remco Evenepeol, who failed to follow the best on Sunday.

Winner of Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix this year, Mathieu van der Poel, already five-time cyclo-cross world champion, confirms with this victory that he is the best one-day race rider of the moment.

Fighter and acrobat at the same time, he imposed his power and his science of driving that worked wonders on a labyrinthine circuit of 14.3 kilometers with 48 turns to be covered ten times, forcing the vast majority of the peloton to abandon, in a sometimes pouring rain.

Mathieu van der Poel's victory comes a year after he retired after 30 kilometers at the 2022 Worlds in Australia after spending the night at the station following an altercation with two teenage girls in his hotel.

He will also aim for world gold next Saturday in mountain biking at these "Super Worlds" in Scotland.

Unlike the last three years, France is leaving without a medal. The Blues have never managed to influence the race. Their designated leader Christophe Laporte, vice-world champion in title, was delayed by a mechanical problem at the worst time when the Belgians and Danes forced the pace in the lead, a hundred kilometers from the finish.

He retired a few laps further along with Julian Alaphilippe, double world champion in 2020 and 2021.

With AFP

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