Toon Aerts wins the excellent Koppenbergcross Cup, Van der Poel

Toon Aerts won a fantastic Koppenbergcross. The former champion of Europe has finished in the home stretch with Michael Vanthourenhout and Wout van Aert. European champion Mathieu van der Poel was not included in history.

Three highlights
The start of the Koppenberg pavers is unique every year. Toon Aerts, still on the daring of Melden, has been shown to dominate. The triple winner, Wout van Aert, was far away, unlike his big competitor Mathieu van der Poel. The champion of Europe was in twelfth place, which we are not used to. Van der Poel however did not panic and rose gradually even though he had to look for the necessary risks. Our compatriot tried to overtake a number of runners on a track where it was not really possible and at the same time – without much – he fell. After that, Van der Poel no longer worked and lost twenty seconds at a stroke.

After fifteen minutes, we had a strong acceleration of Toon Aerts. Only Michael Vanthourenhout and Wout van Aert could keep pace with the impressive leader of the World Cup. They would also write the subsequent story of the contest. Aerts set the tone every time on the cobblestones of Koppenberg, Van Aert saw, but could follow. Vanthourenhout had to leave a hole many times, but in the downhill and on the technique, he managed to reduce the gap again and again. Aerts and Van Aert maintained good relations in the meantime and exchanged a good match at the top of the race.

Razendspelendede final round
The three fronts were pretty well matched and seemed to enter the final, this was counted outside Aerts. At the penultimate climb of the Koppenberg, he threw all his assets on the table. Vanthourenhout was first and just before the summit, Van Aert also had to lead the former champion of Europe. Remarkably, Vanthourenhout caught up with the next downhill. The West Fleming jumped right after his return, preventing world champion Van Aert from intervening in the fight.

Aerts and Vanthourenhout finally cut off the final climb of the Koppenberg, but it was Aerts which was obviously the strongest. Vanthourenhout stopped suddenly and realized that the pavement was for Aerts

Offday Van der Poel
And Mathieu van der Poel? In the meantime, it was getting more and more difficult and was being driven by more and more runners. The rider who over the last few weeks has dominated all the centers where he started at the start clearly had a rest day and will end up out of the top 20 in more than four minutes. We had a similar scenario two years ago when he entered the same hole on the Koppenberg. Van der Poel must therefore ask about the European championship which will take place in Rosmalen next Sunday.

DVV Insurance Trophy 2018-2019
Result Round 1: Old Age (C1)
1. Toon Aerts (Lions of Telenet-Fidea)
2. Michael Vanthourenhout (Marlux Bingoal) + 11s
3. Wout van Aert (Cibel-Cebon) + 14s
4. Lars van der Haar (Lions of Telenet-Fidea) + 58s
5. Quinten Hermans (Lions Telenet-Fidea) + 1m18s
6. Laurens Sweeck (Pauwels Service Sauzen-Vastgoeds) + 1m25s
7. Eli Iserbyt (Marlux Bingoal) + 1m38s
8. Kevin Pauwels (Marlux Bingoal) + 1m52s
9. Jens Adams (Pauwels Service Sauzen-Vastgoeds) + 2m00s
10. Daan Soete (service of milk sauces from Pauwels) + 2m31s

21. Mathieu Van der Poel (Corendon Circus) + 4m12s