Dutch cyclist Mathieu van der Poel won the UCI Road World Championships road race in Glasgow, Scotland on Sunday. Van der Poel won alone – despite a crash while cornering in the final kilometers – after breaking away from the group leading the race and retaking the escape of the Italian Alberto Bettiol, then tenth at the finish. Second place went to Belgian Wout Van Aert, third to Slovenian Tadej Pogačar.
For van der Poel, who is 28 years old, it is the first world title on the road as a professional, after the seven won in cyclo-cross, the last of which in February this year. It was also since 1985 that the Netherlands had not won the road race of the World Road Championships.
He can’t believe.
We can’t believe it.@mathieuvdpoel 👑#GlasgowScotland2023 pic.twitter.com/UgfkrZBQcu— UCI (@UCI_cycling) August 6, 2023