After the cyclo-cross world championship, Sanremo and Roubaix, Mathieu Van der Poel embellished his extraordinary season with the most prestigious victory, conquering the rainbow jersey on a rainy afternoon in Glasgow.

A nine-rider breakaway broke away in the first hour of racing, consisting of Owain Doull (Great Britain), Matthew Dinham (Australia), Harold Tejada (Colombia), Kevin Vermaeke (United States), Patrick Gamper (Austria), Rory Townsend (Ireland), Ryan Christensen (New Zealand), Krists Neilands (Latvia), and Petr Klemen (Czech Republic). The nine leaders entered the final circuit, which would be repeated ten times, with a four-minute lead over the main group led by the Danish men.

During the first four laps, constant attack attempts significantly narrowed the group. An unfortunate crash eliminated our Matteo Trentin , who seemed to be in great shape.

At 75 km, the first decisive moment of the race occurred with the first attacks by the favorites : Pedersen and Van der Poel set off in succession and formed a small group at the head of the race with Van Aert, Pogacar, Alberto Bettiol, and the two remaining escapees, Vervaeke and Dinham. The seven riders did not cooperate and were caught by the main group, now reduced to fewer than 30 riders.

With 55 km to go, Alberto Bettiol made a determined start, managing to break away and remain alone at the head of the race. The Italian EF rider managed to gain over 30 seconds, but behind him the usual four champions organized themselves in pursuit: Pogacar , Van der Poel , Van Aert , and Pedersen .

During the penultimate lap, the four pursuers get very close to Bettiol and, as soon as they see him, Van der Poel opens the throttle in his own unique way and drops everyone else . The Dutchman quickly manages to gain a good margin over his opponents and, despite a crash (without consequences), continues to push and take risks on the narrow bends of the street circuit.

Van der Poel triumphed solo at the finish line in Glasgow, beating his closest pursuers by over a minute and a half; Van Aert finished second, while Pogacar took the third step of the podium. Bettiol, after a fantastic race, finished in tenth place.

ORDER OF ARRIVAL:

1 VAN DER POEL Mathieu Netherlands 6:07:27

2 VAN AERT Wout Belgium 1:37

3 POGAČAR Tadej Slovenia 1:45

4 PEDERSEN Mads Denmark ,,

5 KÜNG Stefan Switzerland 3:48

6 STUYVEN Jasper Belgium ,,

7 DINHAM Matthew Australia ,,

8 SKUJIŅŠ Toms Latvia ,,

9 BENOOT Tiesj Belgium ,,

10 BETTIOL Alberto Italy 4:03

Photo: Sprint Cycling Agency