Good times and bad times for Mathieu van der Poel at past weekend's Zilvermeercross in Mol and the Superprestige race in Spa-Francorchamps: While the Elite World Champion of team BKCP-Corendon had a strong influence on the race action in Mol and finished second behind Wout van Aert and ahead of Laurens Sweeck, he crashed at the Superprestige race in Spa riding on second position and finally finished twelfth.

At Silvermeercross Laurens Sweeck of ERA-Murprotec had no problems on the sandy course and got the best start on his STEVENS Super Prestige. Besides the 21 year old Vice U23 World Champion also Wout van Aert (22) and Mathieu van der Poel (21) got a good start.

From round three on the three young riders were leading the field after van der Poel had accelerated. Five riders approaching them were again put at a distance by another speed increase. Shortly after van Aert attacked leaving van der Poel and Sweeck behind, too. The Belgian finished about 20 seconds ahead of van der Poel, who overtook Laurens Sweeck on the last round.

David van der Poel, U23 rider Daan Hoeyberghs, Philipp Walsleben (all BKCP-Corendon) and Diether Sweeck (ERA-Murprotec) finished on positions eight to eleven on STEVENS Super Prestige.

Van der Poel said after the race: “At the beginning of the race all went well for me, but I could not keep up the pace. As late as in the final round my legs felt better and I managed to finish second.“ Laurens Sweeck, who is debuting as a pro rider, said after his first podium of this season: “I liked the sandy course, so far I've always been on the podium here. On the last round, however, I was really exhausted and glad that the pursuers were at a good distance. But I think I can be satisfied with my running performance.“ Before this race, Sweeck had already collected several top ten results.

Spa-Francorchamps
The Superprestige race in Spa-Francorchamps started with Radomir Simunek of ERA-Murprotec in the lead, but he crashed on a steep, slippy downhill section and fell behind. Mathieu van der Poel suffered a similar fate and had to let Wout van Aert take over the lead which he did not give away anymore until he reached the finish line. Sven Nys and Klaas Vantornout finished second and third, van der Poel twelfth.

In the junior category Jens Dekker and Jappe Jaspers of Enertherm-BKCP defended their lead in the Superprestige ranking on STEVENS Super Prestige by finishing fourth and fifth. Sanne Cant did not start because of torn muscle fibre. Next weekend the World Cup race in Namur will take place. UCI will broadcast the race live on their Youtube channel.