The Sportspedia
World Champion Mathieu van der Poel (NED) is having a very good return to cyclo-cross after a successful road cycling campaign. His return was met with a a victory at the X²0 badkamers Trofee Scheldecross, where he beat European Champion, Eli Iserbyt (BEL), and Tom Pidcock (ENG), yesterday.
The majority of the field met each other again today at the Telenet Superprestige Gavere. This time, the English rider took the lead from the very first lap and he kept the position until the end. So did van der Poel, who kept second from lap 1 until the end. They were basically together past lap 6 until Pidcock just took off, and won by 25 seconds. Toon Aerts (BEL) was third, beating Iserbyt by ten seconds.
The women’s races also saw a good Dutch presence, with Dutch riders occupying the top three positions on each race. Denise Betsema (NED) took the race at Antwerpen, five seconds ahead of Lucinda Brand (NED), who finished twenty-three ahead of Annemarie Worst (NED).
Today, the first two swiped places at Gavere: Brand won, followed by Betsema. Third was another Dutch rider: Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (NED). Clara Honsinger (USA) was the first non-Dutch, finishing fourth.
The Cyclocross season’s main months of competition are December and January.
