The 23-year-old hoping to be the first rider since Roland Liboton to achieve the feat, his compatriot having triumphed between 1982 and 1984.

Van Aert’s main obstacle to a third straight win was likely to be home favourite Mathieu van der Poel after the Dutchman won seven of the nine World Cup events this season.

A battle between the pair seemed likely after the first two laps of a muddy course only for Van Aert to begin to open a narrow gap.

His lead continued to grow as the race progressed, the Belgian storming clear towards a solo victory on the course.

Van Aert ultimately finished over two minutes clear of his nearest rival as he ended in a winning time of 1 hour 09min 00sec.

Having headed into the event with 26 wins from 32 races this season, Van der Poel’s disappointment at missing out on his second world title was compounded when he was caught by Belgium’s Michael Vanthourenhout.

The Belgian rider edged away from the 2015 world champion to secure the silver medal in 1:11:13.

Van der Poel completed the podium places, the Dutchman ending in 1:11:30.

There was further success in the under-23 race for Belgium with Eli Iserbyt emerging as the winner.

The 21-year-old pulled clear of his rivals to secure victory in a time of 50min 54sec as defending champion Joris Nieuwenhuis from The Netherlands second in 51:22.

France’s Yan Gras earned the bronze medal, finishing a further seven seconds adrift.