{"id":191703,"date":"2023-01-09T11:03:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-09T11:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=191703"},"modified":"2023-01-09T12:16:56","modified_gmt":"2023-01-09T12:16:56","slug":"wout-van-aert-wins-the-world-cup-in-zonhoven-sandpit-it-was-definitely-a-hard-hike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2023\/01\/09\/wout-van-aert-wins-the-world-cup-in-zonhoven-sandpit-it-was-definitely-a-hard-hike\/","title":{"rendered":"Wout van Aert Wins the World Cup in Zonhoven Sandpit: \u2018It was definitely a hard hike\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The Belgian rode solo for five laps, claiming the win in a stunning fashion. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) finished second with time to spare before the rest of the favourites arrived. Laurens Sweeck (Crelans-Fristads) claimed the final podium spot to increase his lead in the World Cup.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was definitely a hard hike,\u201d Van Aert joked after the finish. \u201cIt was really tough, with an extra time through the Kuil. For me, I also liked the extra uphill section, running. This is definitely more spectacular.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-controller-wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\ude80 Van Aert is flying through the sand today in Zonhoven! \u2600 He has an advantage of more than a minute on Van der Poel!\u00a0\ud83d\udc4f\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/CXWorldCup?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#CXWorldCup<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/DU3BUF0g9R\">pic.twitter.com\/DU3BUF0g9R<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup (@UCIcyclocrossWC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UCIcyclocrossWC\/status\/1612100971986882560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 8, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async data-src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p>\u201cI was able to benefit from the mistakes Mathieu made. He suddenly fell in front of me and then I was able to make a big gap. The lead surprised me a bit,\u201d Van Aert said. \u201cNow it is important for me to rest well, tomorrow, I will leave for a camp with the team. I need miles in the sun to get that real acceleration back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The expected battle between Van Aert and Van der Poel was cut short by Van der Poel\u2019s prevailing back problems. After the race, Van der Poel said his feelings were \u201cnot good\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just think it\u2019s really hard to focus. The only thing I\u2019m thinking about is my back and it\u2019s hurting,\u201d Van der Poel admitted at the finish. \u201cYou have to be 100% focused on the course and I\u2019m just not able to. I can maybe ride half a lap as I want, then I have to hold back because of the pain. It\u2019s super frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Does this mean Van Aert will win the February world championships? What do you think?<\/p>\n<h2><strong>2023 CX \u2013 Zonhoven<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>1. Wout van Aert (BEL) &#8211; 58:49<br \/>\n2. Mathieu van der Poel (NED) + 01:23<br \/>\n3. Laurens Sweeck (BEL) + 01:31<br \/>\n4. Michael Vanthourenhout (BEL) + 02:02<br \/>\n5. Quinten Hermans (BEL) + 02:08<br \/>\n6. Lars van der Haar (NED) + 02:17<br \/>\n7. Niels Vandeputte (BEL) + 02:37<br \/>\n8. Jens Adams (BEL) + 02:49<br \/>\n9. Kevin Kuhn (SUI) + 03:01<br \/>\n10. Corne van Kessel (NED) + 03:14<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Belgian rode solo for five laps, claiming the win in a stunning fashion. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) finished [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":191705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[328],"tags":[6872,5940,631,2933,831,6871],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-191703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-outdoor-mountain","tag-2023-cx-zonhoven","tag-cx","tag-cyclo-cross","tag-mathieu-van-der-poel","tag-wout-van-aert","tag-zonhoven-sandpit","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Wout van Aert Wins the World Cup in Zonhoven Sandpit - We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Belgian rode solo for five laps, claiming the win in a stunning fashion. 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