Nasty crash can't stop Van der Poel winning fourth World Champs | Video | Sticky Bottle

*Mathieu van der Poel takes another victory, his fourth so far, in the elite men's race at the World Cyclocross Championships in Ostend, Belgium, today (Photo: Cor Vos)*

Not even a nasty crash could prevent Mathieu van der Poel winning his fourth elite world title today; the Dutch rider taking the gold in Ostend, Belgium.

The main event was not without drama for Van der Poel and the other hot favourite Wout van Aert, the Belgian rider who had to be content with silver on the day.

After van der Poel suffered his crash on the second lap as he was just behind Van Aert, he was trailing his rival by 15 seconds but gradually narrowing that gap to 10 seconds.

However, Van Aert then punctured on the third lap and that saw van der Poel pass him and gain a gap of about 10 seconds; a moment that was to prove decisive.

Van Aert dug in and initially he shaved some seconds off the gap before a couple of errors in the sand saw him cede a little more time to the flying leader with three laps remaining.

Once he was out front alone van der Poel always looked in control and when he hit the the line to take the bell he had almost 30 seconds on Van Aert.

That's the way it stayed for most of the final lap, the gap between the leading two growing further before narrowing a little, but only when van der Poel knocked off the pace as he neared the finish.

In the end he took it by 37 seconds from van Aert, with Toon Aerts (Belgium) taking bronze at 1:23 after winning the battle with Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) for the final medal; the Briton placing 4th some 1:37 behind the winner.

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Van der Poel powering through the sand and looking in complete control on his way to the rainbow bands in Ostend, Belgium

‼️‼️ @mathieuvdpoel crashes ‼️‼️#Ostend2021 pic.twitter.com/yNPXCbmlNX

— UCI Cyclocross (@UCI_CX) January 31, 2021

This crash on the second lap could have easily taken Mathieu van der Poel out of the battle for gold. But the Dutch rider simply got back on his bike and put on a master class on his way to his fourth elite world title