Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin – Deceuninck) soloed to a win in the final round of the UCI World Cup in Besançon, France, on Sunday. The overall World Cup winner Laurens Sweeck (Crelan – Fristads) finished second and Joris Nieuwenhuis (Baloise Trek Lions) crossed the line third.
“I can be happy with how I felt today and, hopefully, with some rest next week, I think I will feel my best next week,” van der Poel said after the race.
“It was really hard to make a difference from the start. I wanted to take it a bit easier in the beginning and then see what I could do with an attack on the hardest part of the course. On a fast course like this, this is the best thing you can do. If a big group is behind you, they will look at each other a few times.”
2023 CX – Besançon results
1. Mathieu van der Poel (NED) 01:01:33
2. Laurens Sweeck (BEL) + 49
3. Joris Nieuwenhuis (NED) + 52
4. Clément Venturini (FRA) + 52
5. Niels Vandeputte (BEL) + 53
6. Ryan Kamp (NED) + 53
7. Kevin Kuhn (SUI) + 01:00
8. Gerben Kuypers (BEL) + 01:03
9. Michael Boros (CZE) + 01:04
10. Eli Iserbyt (BEL) + 01:17
