An imperious Mathieu van der Poel led Sunday’s ninth round of the 2025-2026 UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Zonhoven, Belgium from start to finish, racking up his ninth consecutive win of the season and 20th win in a row. It was a disaster for Thibau Nys as he was poised to take over the series lead from absent Laurens Sweeck, but a crash-damaged bike meant that he picked up very few points. Van der Poel now leads the series. Liam Sargent was top Canadian in 51st.

Earlier in the day in the Junior men’s race, Evan Moore placed 11th, Emilien Belzile came 15th, Sagan Goertz made 22nd, Grayson Franks was 24th, and Fabrice Dufresne and Farland Lamont finished in the top 37.

Preliminaries

Poor Sweeck was leading the general classification but a crash turning into the finishing straight of the Loenhout round of the X2O Badkamers series caused an injury that required surgery. His season is over. For all intents and purposes, Nys, three rounds in his pocket, went into Sunday leading the GC by 15 points over Michael Vanthourenhout and 23 points over van der Poel.

Nys crashed on the sandy descent in the recon.

Remi Brisebois, Rhett Bates, Liam Sargent and Cody Scott made up the Canadian contingent.

Van der Poel powered into Position 1 after the green light on Lap 1. Nys and Toon Aerts marked him closely. All the principles made it down the sandy descent upright. Nys had a gap to sew up, Emiel Verstrynge hard on his heels. Soon the world champion was solo. Niels Vandeputte wanted to join in with Nys and Verstrynge. The man in the rainbow jersey enjoyed an 11-second gap after the first circuit. Cody Scott was 49th.

Van der Poel and Aerts out front early on Sunday.

On Lap 2 of 8, Aerts, Nys, Vandeputte and Verstrynge consolidated. Tibor del Grosso appeared on the horizon and wanted to join in. Aerts drove the bus a half minute behind van der Poel.

The world champion led from start to finish.

Del Grosso seized the wheel at the start of Lap 3. Vanthourenhout endeavoured to get in on the podium battle. Del Grosso went down in a slick corner, twisting his left hand brake lever and holding up the pursuit.

Del Grosso’s crash delayed the chase.

With Vanthourenhout now aboard, Nys took over the front of the chase group on Lap 4. Big gaps reappeared among the podium aspirants before Nys crashed over the barriers and destroyed his handlebar. He had a long way to go to the pits with lever dangling.

This crash utterly ruined Nys’ Zonhoven round.

Del Grosso and Verstrynge were well-positioned to be on the podium going into Lap 6, 20 seconds ahead of Vanthourenhout, Aerts and Vandeputte. Liam Sargent was up to 52nd.

Verstrynge lost contact with del Grosso before the penultimate lap. It would be del Grosso’s third World Cup podium in a row and Verstrynge’s second of the season.

Nys’s 19th gave him seven points. Van der Poel owns 200 points, Nys has 190 and Vanthourenhout has 187.

A two-week recess brings us to the Benidorm, Spain round on January 18.

2025-2026 UCI Cyclocross World Cup, Round 9, Zonhoven
1) Mathieu van der Poel (The Netherlands/Alpecin-Premier Tech) 59:36
2) Tibor del Grosso (The Netherlands/Alpecin-Premier Tech) +0:45
3) Emiel Verstrynge (Belgium/Crelan-Corendon) +1:03
51) Liam Sargent (Canada)
53) Cody Scott (Canada)
56) Rhett Bates (Canada)
57) Remi Brisebois (Canada)