D. van Poppel on the podium in Dwars door het Hageland

Published 06/10/2021 · Updated 01/05/2022

The 18th edition of the 177-kilometre classic Dwars door het Hageland (1.Pro) led through the hilly region of Brabant, the Hageland, with the last 1000 metres being cobblestones to the finish at the citadel of Diest.

It was only after the first passage at the top of the Citadel of Diest, 95 kilometres from the finish, that a group of eight riders broke away. Among them was Taco van der Hoorn, runner-up in the 2017 edition. Working well together, they managed to open up a 55-second lead, but the Deceuninck team prompted a regrouping 70 kilometres from the finish. On the 4-kilometre dirt road of Demerdijk Zichem, eight other riders took over the lead of the race. The brothers Boy and Danny van Poppel were the main initiators of this breakaway attempt and together they managed to increase the gap to over a minute with 30 kilometres to go.

The only team with two men at the front, Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux, also had Wesley Kreder in the counterattack, fending off attempts from Niels Eekhoff (DSM) and Davide Ballerini (Deceuninck). Danny van Poppel ideally tackled the last metres to the citadel and was only beaten by Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X) in the end. With Boy van Poppel in 7th place, the team had another rider in the top 10 and three others in the top 20.

“The satisfaction prevails after this nice second place, but I am and remain someone who prefers to win. Winning would have been a fair reward for my teammates as they put in a great performance. Starting with my brother Boy, who was very strong with me at the front and kept such a high pace that nobody wanted to attack. We did everything perfectly and in the end we only had to admit defeat to Rasmus Tiller, who was simply stronger. Either way, this performance is good for confidence. I’m not at my peak yet, but everyone could see today that I’m on the right track!”
Danny van Poppel