Today Mathieu van der Poel (BKCP-Powerplus) won the eleventh edition of the Cyclocross van het Waasland in Sint-Niklaas. The 19-year-old Dutchman arrived alone at the finish after he got rid of his rivals halfway through the race. Kevin Pauwels finished second while Wietse Bosmans was third.

Lots of riders had withdrawn from the race even before the start of the Cyclocross van het Waasland. In addition to Sven Nys, Klaas Vantornout, Wout Van Aert and Tom Meeusen all decided to skip the race for various reasons.

Just after the start, a leading group of four riders emerged. Kevin Pauwels was joined by Czech Martin Bina and the Dutch brothers Mathieu and David Van der Poel. Rob Peeters followed a little further back with Wietse Bosmans.

After three laps, the front group was reduced to three riders after a bit of reshuffling, with Pauwels being joined by Mathieu van der Poel and Bosmans. At the halfway point, Pauwels made a mistake which was the signal for the young van der Poel brother to make an attack and build a gap.

Bosmans seemed to finish the race in second but just before the start of the final lap, he was joined by Pauwels who waited for the sprint where he easily beat Bosmans.

On the list of winners, Van der Poel follows Niels Albert who beat the young Dutchman in a very close sprint one year ago. It's the third victory of the season for Van der Poel. In October, he won in Gieten and last Saturday he won the Scheldecross.

Earlier Sanne Cant won the women's race.