Van der Poel maintains his good document as cyclocross hits among the most iconic occasions of the season.
Street racing has begun in the Southern Hemisphere, however mud, rain and soiled sand dunes nonetheless reign in Europe. For at the least a month longer anyway, earlier than gritty circumstances of a unique selection take centre stage through the Spring Classics that alight the early street season.
There’s been barely any let-up for the reason that rammed Kerstperiode over Christmas and New Year, and arguably the races we’ve seen this week have been among the most interesting of the lot. Even relative newcomers to CX can’t fail to recognise the spectacle of occasions like Duinencross Koksijde (a.ok.a. “Cyclocross of the Dunes”) and the enduring Zonhoven with its magnificent sandy bowl that fills with followers and frites a few times a 12 months.
Positive, there have been some acquainted names topping the standings on the finish of every hour of racing – come up Fem van Empel and the transcendent talent of Mathieu van der Poel – however the parcours of those occasions alone are price tuning in for, by no means extra so than Zonhoven the place the primary entry into the enduring ‘Pit’ all the time elicits a stirring roar from the gang gathered in its base and the encircling slopes. And between the 2 headline occasions was the mudfest of Gullegem the place the season’s most plucky underdogs, or these due a change of luck, obtained their likelihood.
It’s been a strong few days of racing to properly and really convey the festive block to a detailed earlier than the assorted Nationwide Championships subsequent weekend, then the final two rounds of the World Cup, earlier than we lastly head to the World Championships in Tábor, Czech Republic initially of February.
At Duinencross Koksijde, the elite girls race onto the primary important dune of the race, Lucinda Model main, however Fem van Empel arising the skin, all underneath the watchful gaze of a mahoosive inflatable duck.Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado continued her constant run on Thursday’s celebrated Duinencross.Sanne Cant additionally continues to experience excessive within the prime 10 after a gentle construct all through the season.However Fem van Empel was additionally on the beginning line and looking out sprightly regardless of persevering with to rehab her varied crash accidents, dominating her rivals within the technical and energy sectors.Alvarado entered a battle for second with Model.The world champion didn’t have an ideal race, taking an unlucky tumble whereas attempting to remount a motorcycle within the pits, however Van Empel nonetheless held nearly 40 seconds over her nearest rivals by the end.The Dutchwoman took her 14th win at Koksijde to cap off a busy racing block. Van Empel will now take a break from competitors, heading out to a Visma-Lease a Bike coaching camp in Spain earlier than returning to the beginning line for the World Cup in Benidorm (21 January), the place she’ll resume her construct in direction of a World Championship defence.The battle between Model and Alvarado was fierce, culminating in an all-out dash for the road, the place Model edged her compatriot to take silver.The mixture of sand and dust made it one other busy day for the pit crews at Koksijde.The collection sponsor’s mascot, an enormous rubber duck, watches because the elite males line up on the beginning line.Mathieu van der Poel was an image of ‘chilled’ as he awaited beginning orders.As all the time, it didn’t take lengthy for the world champion to take over from early charger Laurens Sweeck and forge a path forward of his rivals in entrance of an enormous Koksijde crowd.Thibau Nys didn’t have an exquisite day within the sand …… however the younger prodigy’s teammates loved one other action-packed time out. Lars van der Haar confirmed for the nth time that he has the abilities and energy to compete, if not with Van der Poel, then most actually with Wout van Aert, with whom he battled for a lot of the race alongside Gianni Vermeersch. There was a very spectacular dune climb that he accomplished on the pedals the place everybody else, together with Van der Poel, had been compelled right into a run.Wout van Aert did as Wout van Aert (circa. 2023/4 season) does and rode a gentle race, sticking with a small group till he discovered an additional gear in direction of the top. He was unable, nonetheless, to maintain Pim Ronhaar from slipping off the leash and driving into the hole between Van der Poel and the Van Aert group.Van der Poel vs. Ronhaar.I’m working out of superlatives for this younger man. All I can say is I’m delighted that this relative underdog – a standing we are able to not attribute to Ronhaar as some of the profitable riders of the season – has arisen as some of the watched males within the elite discipline.European champion Michael Vanthourenhout stayed with Van Aert, Van der Haar and Vermeersch earlier than slipping again into eighth by the end.Van der Poel in the meantime, stayed clear for an additional dominant victory, main Ronhaar dwelling by 1:20. 23 seconds after the younger Baloise Trek Lions rider was Wout van Aert whose late surge seemed set to threaten Ronhaar’s runner-up end, however the 22-year-old held on for an additional improbable outcome.The profitable bike.A well-recognized expression on Van Aert’s face, however the Belgian retains asserting that he’s much less considering beating Van der Poel within the mud and sand than he’s doing the identical over the cobbles in just a few months’ time.The weekend introduced the cyclocross world to Gullegem for a really very muddy time out. Inge van der Heijden seemed in her ingredient from the beginning, however Zoe Backstedt was intently marking her wheel.Aniek van Alphen had an excellent race, exhibiting once more that mud is glad searching floor for the 24-year-old.Clara Honsinger was making solely her second European look of the season after a powerful North American racing block. She adopted up fifth eventually weekend’s GP Sven Nys with sixth in Gullegem.It was quickly clear that Zoe Backstedt was the one to beat.In the meantime, World Cup and Superprestige chief Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado had a foul day within the mud, ultimately pulling out after struggling decrease again ache that will additionally rule her out of Sunday’s Zonhoven World Cup, the place she may need come near sealing the World Cup lead as soon as and for all.It was an enormous win for 20-year-old Backstedt, her first since taking the U23 European title, and the primary elite victory in mainland Europe of her profession.Lander Loockx of TDT-Unibet led the boys’s discipline into the mud within the first lap.Michael Vanthourenhout (far proper) quickly moved up together with Thibau Nys and Gianni Vermeersch, the latter two briefly getting tousled over a muddy dike.Joran Wyseure and Gianni Vermeersch briefly went off the entrance within the opening lap, together with Felipe Orts, with Thibau Nys and Vanthourenhout chasing furiously.Zdenek Štybar continued to construct in direction of a house World Championships with twenty fifth in Gullegem, carrying a light-hearted strategy with him which got here in helpful after being despatched base over apex in a pitted corner.Vanthourenhout rejoined the entrance on the finish of the primary lap, and by the half-way level, the European champion was solo with a good hole.After a characteristically regular begin, Cameron Mason discovered his approach to the chase group earlier than attacking by his favoured terrain. Because the race progressed, the sector grew to become ever extra scattered, lone rider chasing lone rider by the muddy sludge, Mason pursuing Vanthourenhout, himself being chased by Wyseure, then Nys, then Loockx, Orts, Adams, Vermeersch, and so forth.Joran Wyseure had each to chase after the Brit forward of him, and maintain Nys at bay.Up entrance, Michael Vanthourenhout held on to take victory by 15 seconds, regaining the highest step for the primary time for the reason that European Championships, the place by the way, Mason additionally completed second. Since then, Vanthourenhout has had a run of constant finishes punctuated by dangerous luck, together with a dislocated shoulder in Kortrijk that appeared to set the Belgian again somewhat. That stated, he’s solely completed exterior the highest 10 as soon as within the eleven races he’s completed since then.Mason and Wyseure, two of the season’s foremost underdogs, congratulate each other on the rostrum.He fought arduous, however Thibau Nys simply missed out on the rostrum.Sunday noticed the annual pilgrimage to Zonhoven and its iconic ‘Pit’, the arena-like sandy crater that turns the enthusiastic thrill of the massed crowds right into a resonating cacophony of noise. It’s one of many races of the season and this 12 months marks the anti-penultimate occasion of the UCI World Cup (Benidorm is available in two weeks, then Hoogerheide hosts the finale on 28 January).Puck Pieterse was busy from the gun, however her early push was stalled by a rear wheel puncture after the primary passage of the sandpit area.Lucinda Model noticed a possibility to get forward and surged into the lead, powering across the quick course solo whereas Pieterse was compelled to chase from low down within the prime 10 positions after a motorcycle change.Zoe Backstedt was nonetheless trying good after Saturday’s victory within the mud, the younger Brit main the chase after Model forward of Inge van der Heijden and Marie Schreiber (the Luxembourger was compelled to DNF later within the race after a few arduous and quick crashes).Inge van der Heijden’s robust weekend went from good to raised on her approach to a career-best elite World Cup end.Pieterse steadily picked her means by the competitors till she discovered herself lodged between Van der Heijden and chief Model.With Backstedt up forward, Leonie Bentveld was a key participant within the race inside a race, not solely going after one other prime outcome amongst elite competitors, but in addition defending her U23 World Cup lead from Backstedt who’s respiration down her neck with two rounds to go.Regardless of Pieterse’s quick ascent by the placings following her early puncture, Model seemed unstoppable because the early laps ticked by. Nonetheless, catastrophe struck within the third lap when the previous world champion crashed arduous in one of many quick however comparatively innocuous sections, touchdown awkwardly on her arm and face, and it was instantly fairly clear she’d be unable to proceed. As Pieterse charged previous and into the lead, an emotional Model left the course on foot clutching her bloody nostril.Victory quantity 4 in a row for Pieterse.Joris Nieuwenhuis led out-and-out favorite Mathieu van der Poel and the fast-starting Laurens Sweeck within the opening laps.The main trio was quickly joined by the on-form Pim Ronhaar who went straight to the entrance of what grew to become a seven-rider group by the top of the third lap.That Eli Iserbyt was capable of tag onto the again of the lead group for even just a few seconds was exceptional given the week he’s had, together with a hospital go to to deal with dehydration after he was floored by a abdomen bug. The World Cup chief rode his personal tempo and was capable of rating a sixth-place end to defend his total lead, albeit by an eminently closable margin for second-place Nieuwenhuis with two rounds to go.If it wasn’t Van der Poel we had been speaking about, his fiddling about in second wheel for the primary three laps may need appeared like a possibility for his rivals, however he was simply biding his time and trying to heat up. Positive sufficient, as Ronhaar led the lead group up the ending straight on the finish of the third lap, the world champion leaned right down to tighten his footwear, a certain signal of what was to come back.It’s arduous to state with certainty what occurred subsequent based mostly on what we had been proven, however initially of the fourth lap, Van der Poel dropped to the again of the group taking Ronhaar with him – maybe to field in somebody he noticed as a menace? – after which as Emiel Verstrynge (one in all three Crelan-Corendon riders within the group) hit the entrance, Van der Poel launched his assault from the again and plunged into the lead within the snaking turns that led to the pit.Thibau Nys had made it into the entrance group alongside teammates Nieuwenhuis and Ronhaar, the Crelan-Corendon trio and the world champion, however the younger rider was left behind when Van der Poel attacked, after which misplaced somewhat extra time after a heavy fall on the quick descent by rutted sand.Nys was removed from the descent’s solely sufferer on Sunday.However not Van der Poel. He made every part look straightforward regardless of admitting to dwindling type.A rattling good bike rider and an correct signal.Nieuwenhuis had raced a wise race and preserved sufficient vitality to raised his rivals within the chase, outpacing Sweeck on the strategy to the ending straight.Pim Ronhaar was an image of exhaustion after the end, fourth place and the comforting presence of his workforce help employees the one rewards for a rollercoaster time out.