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2022 Exactcross-Loenhout (C-1),
Loenhout, Belgium

Friday, December 30, 2022

Azencross-Loenhout podium history | 2021 edition | 2023 edition | Course map

Complete results: Men | Women

Weather at Loenhout at 1:20 PM, local time: 9C (48F), raining, with the wind from the south-southweat at 29 km/hr (18 mph). The rain is expected to continue until 5:00 PM.

Men:

A muddy Wout van Aert beats Mathieu van der Poel to the line.

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The race: Here's the race report from winner Wout van Aert's Team Jumbo-Visma.

Wout van Aert has won the Exact Cross in Loenhout in an impressive way. After a thrilling battle, the Team Jumbo-Visma rider from Belgium defeated Mathieu van der Poel and Tom Pidcock. For Van Aert, it was his fifth cross victory of the season, ending his stellar 2022 in style.

Van der Poel got off to a fast start and put Van Aert under pressure. The Belgian champion didn't allow himself to be knocked off balance and quickly caught up to his rival. The same was true for world champion Pidcock, who was able to catch up every time Van Aert and Van der Poel dropped the pace.

Together, the three riders entered the last lap. With another attack, Van der Poel appeared to have shaken off Van Aert and Pidcock forever, but a mistake in the mud kept the Belgian and British rider in contention for the victory. Van Aert seized that opportunity with both hands and decided the sprint in his favour.

"It was a difficult course", Van Aert said. "Mathieu performed better on the technical sections today, but I could not make it difficult for the other two. I was happy all along that I could keep up. To be honest, I believed Mathieu took off on the final lap. But he made a mistake that allowed me to come back, so I had to work to get myself together before the sprint."

"The plan was to be a few metres behind Tom so I could sprint from his slipstream. That worked out well." Van Aert finished the year on a high note, winning five cyclo-cross races in eight days. "It's really insane. I didn't expect this when I started this part of the season. The legs and my morale are good. Then, occasionally, things go a bit easier."

Complete results:

Women:

Shirin van Anrooij has left her nearest chaser almost a minute back.

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The race: Here is a machine-translation of the race organizer's report.

Eighty women took the start in the pouring rain in Loenhout to contest this classic. Top favorite Shirin van Anrooij did not mince words and immediately took matters into his own hands. No one could threaten her, she steamed to a convincing victory, just like in Mol.

Marie Schreiber once again went for the hole shot and took the lead in the first lap. After a good half lap, Baloise Trek Lion rider Shirin van Anrooij accelerated and immediately left her competitors behind. This selective course created little tension, but it did not make the audience less enthusiastic.

The Luxembourg racer Marie Schreiber gave chase with the Czech Kristyna Zemanova, who was also strong in previous crosses. Schreiber allowed Zemanova a lap on her wheel. She had to give up more and more seconds to lonely leader Shirin van Anrooij, but she did strengthen her second place. Manon Bakker, who had come from behind, finished third, ahead of junior Lauren Molengraaf and Line Burquier.

“This gives confidence”, Van Anrooij said afterwards. “I soon had a gap. It was then important to continue well on the straight line, so that the rest could not come back. After my lead was big enough, I looked for a new pace and tried not to make any mistakes. Now I'm going to rest a bit and then I'll be back in competition in Koksijde”, the Dutch concluded.

Bad luck for Yara Kastelijn, who fell on the bicycle of a fellow rider and hurt her shoulder. She left the race early, hopefully we'll see her back soon without serious consequences.

Complete results:

Course map: