2017 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships – Men's elite race

This event was held on 29 January 2017 as part of the 2017 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Belvaux, Luxembourg. Participants must be men born in 1994 or before. It was won by Wout van Aert of Belgium.[1]

Men's elite race
2017 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships
Race details
Dates29 January 2017 (2017-01-29)
Stages1
Distance24.67 km (15.33 mi)
Winning time1h 02' 08"
Medalists
   Gold  Wout Van Aert (Belgium)
   Silver  Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands)
   Bronze  Kevin Pauwels (Belgium)

Race report

Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel were the big favourites before the race, having dominated the whole season and dividing the majority of races between them.

In contrast to the previous races, snow and ice were much less and the track had become much more muddy and therefore slower. As a result, several rocks surfaced which were barely visible and often covered in small pools of water. The race would turn out to become tough on the material, with especially flat tyres playing a deciding role.

Just after the start, Belgian Tom Meeusen broke his bicycle at the first obstacle and was forced to retire immediately. Meanwhile, van der Poel immediately raced away from the pack with only Kevin Pauwels able to follow. A chase group involved van Aert, Tim Merlier, Michael Vanthourenhout, Corné van Kessel, Stan Godrie, Clément Venturini and Lars van der Haar already 15 seconds back after the first lap. A puncture by Pauwels caused him to drop back, leaving van der Poel going solo from lap two. In the chasing group several riders also suffered multiple punctures and dropped back, with only van Aert able to remain about ten seconds behind.

Van der Poel suffered successive punctures on laps 2, 3 and 4 but each time closely before the pit lane, not losing much time but allowing van Aert to close the gap each lap, finally getting back together on lap 4. Behind the two leaders the gap kept widening, however the first chaser changed often as punctures caused many riders to drop back from a good position. Several riders suffered several punctures and some riders even dropped out of the race as they ran out of spare tyres, including 2008 World Champion Lars Boom.

The two leaders remained together until lap 6 when disaster struck for van der Poel as he suffered a puncture a long distance from the pits, causing him to lose 30 seconds on van Aert. Van Aert now only needed to avoid punctures in the last three laps to win his second consecutive world title, in which he succeeded. As the other riders were already over a minute back, van der Poel had no problem securing second but was visibly disappointed with his second place and eventually finished in tears 44 seconds behind van Aert.

In the fight for third, over two minutes behind van Aert, Pauwels was able to overtake van der Haar on the final lap to take his fifth bronze medal at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships following earlier third places in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2016.

Results

[1]

Rank Cyclist Time
 Wout van Aert (BEL) 1h 02' 08"
 Mathieu van der Poel (NED) + 44"
 Kevin Pauwels (BEL) + 2' 09"
4  Lars van der Haar (NED) + 2' 52"
5  Corné van Kessel (NED) + 3' 09"
6  Laurens Sweeck (BEL) + 3' 29"
7  Michael Boros (CZE) + 3' 47"
8  Gianni Vermeersch (BEL) + 4' 02"
9  Simon Zahner (SUI) + 4' 08"
10  Sascha Weber (GER) + 4' 29"
11  Jan Nesvadba (CZE) + 4' 50"
12  Tim Merlier (BEL) + 5' 07"
13  Philipp Walsleben (GER) + 5' 07"
14  Severin Sagesser (SUI) + 5' 18"
15  Nicola Rohrbach (SUI) + 5' 28"
16  Javier Ruiz de Larrinaga (ESP) + 5' 35"
17  Michael Vanthourenhout (BEL) + 5' 40"
18  Stephen Hyde (USA) + 5' 41"
19  Julien Taramarcaz (SUI) + 5' 57"
20  Luca Braidot (ITA) + 6' 05"
21  Matthieu Boulo (FRA) + 6' 15"
22  Emil Hekele (CZE) + 6' 26"
23  Alois Falenta (FRA) + 6' 26"
24  Marcel Wildhaber (SUI) + 6' 29"
25  Marek Konwa (POL) + 6' 41"
26  Tomas Paprstka (CZE) + 6' 49"
27  Ismael Esteban Agüero (ESP) + 7' 03"
28  Martin Haring (SVK) + 7' 18"
29  Clément Venturini (FRA) + 7' 38"
30  David van der Poel (NED) + 2 laps
31  Francis Mourey (FRA) + 2 laps
32  Jeremy Powers (USA) + 2 laps
33  Kerry Werner (USA) + 2 laps
34  Stan Godrie (NED) + 2 laps
35  Cristian Cominelli (ITA) + 2 laps
36  Kenneth Hansen (DEN) + 2 laps
37  Ian Field (GBR) + 2 laps
38  Michael Van Den Ham (CAN) + 2 laps
39  Michal Malik (CZE) + 2 laps
40  Daniele Braidot (ITA) + 2 laps
41  Steve Chainel (FRA) + 2 laps
42  Lex Reichling (LUX) + 3 laps
43  Kevin Suarez Fernandez (ESP) + 3 laps
44  Lars Boom (NED) + 3 laps
45  Joachim Parbo (DEN) + 3 laps
46  Gusty Bausch (LUX) + 3 laps
47  Jeremy Martin (CAN) + 3 laps
48  Aitor Hernandez Gutierrez (ESP) + 3 laps
49  Travis Livermon (USA) + 3 laps
50  Zsolt Bur (HUN) + 3 laps
51  Hikaru Kosaka (JPN) + 3 laps
52  Scott Thiltges (LUX) + 3 laps
53  Kohei Maeda (JPN) + 4 laps
54  Tommy Nielsen (DEN) + 4 laps
55  Mark McConnell (CAN) + 4 laps
56  Ingvar Ómarsson (ISL) + 4 laps
57  Tobin Ortenblad (USA) + 4 laps
58  Pit Schlechter (LUX) + 4 laps
59  Jeremy Durrin (USA) + 4 laps
60  Christian Helmig (LUX) + 4 laps
 Marcel Meisen (GER) DNF7
 Jack Kisseberth (USA) DNF5
 Toki Sawada (JPN) DNF2
 Tom Meeusen (BEL) DNF1

Fastest laps

References
  1. "Wereldkampioen! Wout van Aert wint een WK tjokvol lekke banden" [World champion! Wout van Aert wins a World Championship chock full of punctures] (in Dutch). Sporza. 29 January 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  2. "ME". ChronoRace.be. ChronoRace.be Chronometrage. 29 January 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
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