The fourth round of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Namur, Belgium provided great racing on Sunday. The extremely challenging course on the slopes of the citadel made the riders go to the limit to get the best possible results on a dry, relatively warm Sunday. In the Elite Men category 20 year-old World champion Mathieu van der Poel (BKCP-Corendon) won a close race with an ultimate attack before the final corner. Runner-up Wout Van Aert (Vastgoedservice-Golden Palace) strengthens his in the World Cup standings. In the Women category a long solo ride from British rider Nikki Harris delivered her a first ever World Cup victory. Eva Lechner (Team Colnago SudTirol) was third in Namur and takes over the lead from Belgian champion Sanne Cant. The late attack from Van der Poel came straight after an impressive effort from World Cup leader Wout Van Aert on the last long climb towards the citadel’s esplanade shortly before the finish. Van Aert’s attack ruled out a repeat victory from Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Napoleon Games) but it wasn’t enough to distance the World champion. This trio was leading the race after a massive acceleration from Van Aert halfway the nine-laps long race. The attack blew up the previous lead group of nine riders. Young French rider Clément Venturini (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) tried to bridge across too but his effort fell short. In the end a more balanced approach from Belgian champion Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Napoleon Games) delivered him fourth place ahead of European champion Lars van der Haar (Giant-Alpecin). Van Aert strengthens his lead in the World Cup standings as second-placed Sven Nys only managed a distant eighth place in Namur. Van Aert now leads Nys by 29 points. Van der Haar is third at 35 points. The impressive victory from Nikki Harris came after a flawless solo ride from start to finish. During the first half of the opening lap Italian champion Eva Lechner was leading the way but when she faded back Harris went full gas. One lap later Harris had a bonus of twenty seconds on Ellen Van Loy (Belgium) and Lechner. Halfway the race the lead of Harris had grown even bigger. Five women briefly formed a chase group behind her, featuring Lechner, Van Loy and also Katherine Compton (USA), Sophie de Boer (Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team) and Caroline Mani (France). Mani rode a blistering fast third lap and gapped the rest of the chasers, riding towards a surprising second place. During the final two laps Harris made no mistakes and held off a return from Mani. Both riders achieved their best ever result in a World Cup round which was made clear by their excitement when they crossed the finish line. In the battle for third place Lechner bounced back from a difficult third lap, first passing Van Loy and eventually Compton in the fifth and final lap. Previous World Cup leader Sanne Cant had an off-day in her home country. She finished on a distant fourteenth place at more than two minutes from Harris. Lechner turned around a deficit from 11 points into a bonus of 17 points and takes over the white World Cup leader’s jersey from Cant. In the absence of young top guns Van der Poel and Van Aert who beat the best in the Elite Men category the Men Under 23 category proves to be the playground of Eli Iserbyt (Belgium). The 18 year-old was marked by Gioele Bertolini (Italy) for two laps but then powered away towards his second World Cup victory of the season. Iserbyt now holds 170 points in the World Cup standings which is 45 more than Clément Russo (France) who finished fourth in Namur. Bertolini is three points further back. Jens Dekker (Netherlands) and Jappe Jaspers (Belgium) are in a close battle in the Junior Men category. The duo shared the lead in the World Cup standings before their third World Cup round with Dekker wearing the white leader’s jersey. Jaspers had a mechanical during the opening lap, losing a lot of ground. Dekker seemed to storm to a solo victory but Jasper managed to fight his way back, passing Dekker in the final lap. The next round of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup is held at the car racing circuit in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium on December 26. The riders will be able to test their legs on the course where the 2016 World championships will be held on January 30 and 31.