Waaslandcross in Sint-Niklaas was a Santa-hat-festooned affair, full of crazy sand and beach sections, loud audiences, and a lot of Belgian men who could work as Santa’s body double.
Both the men’s and women’s races were won with solo performances — but what did we learn?
We’re Waiting For Wout Versus Mathieu
Current World Champion Wout van Aert’s performance today was pretty fun to watch. Early in the race he attacked, and within a lap had garnered a 20-second gap on the rest of the field.
Admittedly, watching him finesse his way around the course for the last few laps wasn’t as exciting as a Wout versus Mathieu showdown, but watching his calm, collected body language while navigating the sand was pretty good too.
Meanwhile, we’re hoping Mathieu van der Poel has a speedy recovery from his cold and comes back to racing soon so the real fights can begin.
"Sint-Niklaas has a very nice sand course and I'm looking forward to cross-country, but I'm still too ill right now and I do not want to take any risks because of the busy schedule over the next 10 days,” he told Sporza on Friday.
Telenet-Fidea Is Doing What They Can
The Sven Nys and Trek-backed team has been having a tough season, only truly in contention for the win when the powerhouse players aren’t in attendance.
Today was no exception: Toon Aerts was second, 35 seconds behind Wout, while Quinten Hermans was a few seconds behind him.
Great results, but the team is likely getting anxious for a win against Van Aert or Van der Poel. (And a Van der Poel was in the field: Mathieu’s older brother David made his way into a fantastic fourth place finish after passing Tim Merlier in the last lap.
The New-To-The-Field Women Are Taking Off
Lucinda Brand is a roadie with serious palmares, like a win in a stage of the Gira Rosa this summer, so it’s not shocking that she took the win in Sint-Niklaas.
Brand beat out Sanne Cant and Sophie De Boer for a solo victory—yet another indication that the women who are new to the field are a force to be reckoned with.
In recent races, we’ve seen Evie Richards and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot stomping on riders who’ve been racing since early September, and this is certainly a signal of a serious storm brewing for the upcoming world championships.
Sanne Really Wants Another Win
Sanne Cant is a single win away from 100 UCI career victories, so today’s second place must have hurt. The current world champion is likely assessing whether or not she can or should take a break sometime soon, but with nationals only a couple of weeks away, it’s unlikely that she’ll have time for a trip to Spain for some rest, recovery and base miles anytime soon. So she’ll be hoping to push her fitness a bit longer.
Americans Had A Tough Day
No American racer managed to crack the top ten. Under-23 rider Gage Hecht had the top men’s result in 16th, while Cooper Willsey finished 38th.
In the women’s field, Elle Anderson took 14th, while Corey Coogan Cisek was 37th and Natalie Tapias was 51st in her first European cyclocross race.
By Molly Hurford