Van der Poel also best in Mol after an entertaining duel with Sweeck, Alvarado wins among women

NOS Cycling•today, 4:17 PM

Mathieu van der Poel has won the Zilvermeercross in Mol. The world champion had to work hard for it in the opening phase, but ultimately rode to victory.

For Van der Poel it is his second victory in two days, after he won the World Cup in Zonhoven in a dominant manner yesterday.

A duel with Wout van Aert was planned in Mol for the first time this winter, but Van der Poel's Belgian competitor canceled due to illness. The next chance for a confrontation between the two is now on December 27 in Loenhout.

Yet it was not the second one-man show in a row for Van der Poel. In the fourth round he attacked, but one man joined in: Laurens Sweeck, a Belgian sand specialist.

In the fifth round the Dutchman also seemed to get rid of his last challenger, but due to a great sand passage from Sweeck at a crucial moment, he rejoined the leader.

Van der Poel kept pushing and tried to break his competitor, which he eventually succeeded in the sixth of ten rounds. The six-time world champion then rode solo to victory. Sweeck came second at just under a minute, Michael Vanthourenhout third at a minute and a half.

In the women's race, the victory went to Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado. As expected, the Dutch woman fought a nice duel with Lucinda Brand, but pulled away from her rival in the fourth of six rounds.

Brand kept the gap small for a long time and even seemed to get closer on the fifth lap. Then Alvarado accelerated again, after which Brand's role was over and Alvarado crossed the finish line first for the ninth time this season.