Van der Poel starts 2021 in beast mode; wins over Van Aert, Pidcock | Video | Sticky Bottle

Mathieu van der Poel has take victory at GP Sven Nys in Belgium; the first race of the year going to the dominant world champion (Photo: Martine Verfaillie)

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) has started 2021 in beast mode with a convincing win over Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma) and Tom Pidcock (Trinity Racing) at GP Sven Nys on New Year's Day.

A five-man group formed in the men’s race with three laps
remaining after Pidcock had made much of the early running on the front.

At the end of the fifth lap Van der Poel was out front alone with five seconds on Pidcock as Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) held 3rd, some 14 seconds down.

Then a couple of further lengths back came Van Aert and European champion Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), with Van der Poel looking in charge though Pidcock was still putting in a very strong shift at that point.

*Pidcock put in a very strong ride but faded over the last couple of laps today in Belgium*

Van Aert’s pursuit of van der Poel had been derailed for a time during the decisive fifth lap when he slid out on a muddy off-camber section.

He lost valuable time at that point though he was already
behind, not only Van der Poel, but also Pidcock and Vanthourenhout during that juncture
in the race.

However, on the
penultimate lap of seven while Pidcock was keeping Van der Poel honest, the
world champion was absolutely relentless.

Gradually the gap between Van der Poel and the young British rider Pidcock began to stretch out.

Lara Gillespie attacks Dolomite stage as Giro hits high mountains — *Van der Poel pulls the trigger on the fifth lap*

Video - Italy's hero Balsamo mobbed mid-stage during Giro TT — *Van der Poel pulls the trigger on the fifth lap*

At the same time, Van Aert was looking good and began to pull away from Vanthourenhout and Iserbyt. Indeed, Van Aert soon caught and passed Pidcock on that sixth lap.

Going out onto the final lap Van der Poel led by 13
seconds from Van Aert, with a fading Pidcock back in 3rd place some 20 seconds
down on the leader. And that remained the order of the leaders through that
last lap.

Van Aert was much stronger than Pidcock on the final lap
and though he closed a little on van der Poel, the victory never looked like it
was in question.

In the end Van der Poel won it by eight seconds from Van
Aert, with Pidcock 3rd at 32 seconds. The victory for the Dutch 25-year-old
came just 48 hours after he had won Ethias Cross, also in Belgium.