Van der Poel’s countryman, Martijn Budding, was able to hold onto the silver medal, crossing the line solo, 57 seconds behind the winner, despite being hunted by three Belgian riders, Nicolas Cleppe, Yannick Peeters, and Quintan Hermans.

By the final lap, a storming Adam Toupalik (Czech Republic) had moved up through the field and passed all three Belgians to capture the bronze. The USA’s Logan Owen, who had gunned it up from ninth to third, but faded when the impact of his huge effort set in, was able to regroup and finish a strong fourth to the delight of local fans.

Canada’s Peter Disera was the best-placed Canadian in 19th place, three minutes and 52 seconds off the winning time. It was his second time representing Canada at a World Championship within six months.”I was at the mountain bike world championshpis earlier in September. To come back and be at another world championships representing Canada, it’s amazing,” he said.

Disera went on to describe how he approached his race: “…I just think everything through. I tend to remove emotion from things, I tend to just make it really logical….”

Fellow Canucks Trevor Pearson and Isaac Niles finished in 28th and 30th, respectively, while Neil Symington finished two laps down.

Full results HERE.