Mathieu van der Poel was well on the way to becoming 2017 cyclocross World Champion when after the first half of the race a tire defect thwarted him significantly. Wout van Aert who he had just escaped from took the chance and broke away by all in all 44 seconds and after all superiorly defended his World Champion title. Mathieu van der Poel finishes as runner-up, more than one minute ahead of third-place winner Kevin Pauwels.

Laurens Sweeck of ERA-Circus finished sixth on STEVENS Super Prestige. Also he suffered a tire defect in the final third of the race while riding on third position. Best German rider is Sascha Weber on tenth place. Philipp Walsleben, also on STEVENS Super Prestige, finishes 13.

Things had looked quite different at the beginning of the race: Mathieu van der Poel had a strong start and soon managed to get rid of his only haunter Kevin Pauwels. This is even more impressive as he had to change his tire three times as he suffered four punctures (one at front and back).

All in all van der Poel appeared to be the livelier rider. As soon as Wout van Aert had managed to catch Mathieu after half of the race with enormous efforts – and without any tire defects – the Dutchman almost immediately set a few meters between himself and his pursuer again. Then van der Poel suffered the decisive puncture of the back tire when hitting a barrier after a downhill passage.

In his first interview after his victory Wout van Aert regretted the way the decision was made in a fair and sportsmanlike way: “I am sorry that Mathieu had another tire defect and the decision was made this way. But I cannot wait if an opportunity like this arises.”

Mathieu van der Poel who had an extremely successful season with all in all 16 wins had focused on re-gaining his World Champion title of 2015. For the sake of an ideal preparation he did not participate in the second last World Cup race in Fiuggi. And for a long time in this race it really looked like nobody could prevent him from winning, not even his four tire defects. He was accordingly inconsolable after the end of the race and still at the awards ceremony.

The unfortunate second place should not, however, distract attention from the fact that Mathieu van der Poel again rode an inspiring season with great duels against Wout van Aert and some impressive solo rides. More is to come next season.

In the morning Joris Niewuenhuis had already become the new U23 World Champion. He rode an almost perfect race on the muddy course and won 1:23 minutes ahead of surprise runner-up Felipe Orts Lloret from Spain and his compatriot Sieben Wouters.