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Gavere Cyclocross podium history | 2022 edition

Complete Results: men | women

Weather at the race city of Gavere at 2:10 PM, local time: 9C (49F), mostly cloudy, with the wind from the east at 16 km/hr (11 mph). There is a 2% chance of rain during the remainder of the day.

Gavere Cross map

Men Elite:

Mathieu van der Poel remains King of the Mud. UCI photo

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The race: Here's the UCI's race summary.

After Antwerp, Mathieu van der Poel also won the World Cup race in Gavere. The world champion again went on the attack early in the race and did not tolerate any opposition. Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock flanked him on the podium.

Lars van der Haar (Baloise Trek Lions) took the best start and was the first to dive into the Gavere mud. It took until midway through the first lap before Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) stuck his nose to the window. The world champion accelerated on an uphill stretch and soon had a lead to grab. Van Aert (Team Jumbo-Visma) saw the danger and advanced. The Belgian came through at the end of the first lap, eight seconds behind Van der Poel. In the background, a group formed with Joris Nieuwenhuis (Baloise Trek Lions), Lars van der Haar and Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal).

Van Aert did everything he could to stay as close to Van der Poel as possible, but he could not close the gap. On the contrary, by the end of the second lap the gap between the two was already growing to half a minute. Van Aert realised there was again nothing to do to the world champion and took some throttle back.

Meanwhile, Van der Poel extended his lead further. Behind Van Aert, teammates Nieuwenhuis and Van der Haar continued to apply pressure. In the background, Tom Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers) was doing a great job of catching up. The Briton started from the fourth row of the starting grid, but had a podium finish within reach two laps from the end. Van der Poel had his sheep long before then.

Van der Haar was the first to offload the role in the battle for the third podium spot. Pidcock took the upper hand from Nieuwenhuis on the last lap. The Dutchman also had to deal with a flat tyre. Van der Poel thus made it after a handsome solo ahead of Wout van Aert. The world champion finished with a 36-second lead. Pidcock crossed the line at 58 seconds.

Complete results:

19.70 kilometers raced at an average speed of 17.615 km/hr

77 riders entered from 15 countries. 28 finished, 46 lapped, 3 did not finish.

Women Elite:

As the UCI put it, Puck Pieterse just turned Gavere into her personal victory lap! UCI photo

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The race: Here's the UCI's race summary.

Puck Pieterse was the strongest in the Gavere mud. The Dutch champion went on the attack as early as the first lap and managed to hold off Fem van Empel and Ceylin Alvarado. It is Pieterse's first World Cup victory of the season.

As so often, Marie Schreiber (Team SD Worx) also shot out best in Gavere. The Luxembourger led the pack with Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) and Fem van Empel (Team Jumbo-Visma) in her wake. Pieterse soon took over command and immediately rode her rivals to a small gap.

Halfway through the first lap she made two mistakes, allowing Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to join her. In the chase, Van Empel and Brand (Baloise Trek Lions) joined forces. At the end of the first lap, they passed the finish line 15 seconds after the leaders.

Thanks to several mistakes by Alvarado, Pieterse suddenly rode alone in the lead on the second lap. World Cup leader Alvarado did not give up yet and continued to ride around a few seconds behind Pieterse. The chasing duo also disintegrated not much later. World champion Van Empel had unloaded Brand, but was still looking at a half-minute gap on Pieterse.

Van Empel got better and better in the race and seemed to be heading for Ceylin Alvarado, who was losing ground to Pieterse. Entering the final lap, the difference between Van Empel and Alvarado was just five seconds. Alvarado made a mistake, allowing Van Empel to come close. The world champion did not hesitate for a second and immediately left the World Cup leader behind her. That way, the three podium places were secured. Pieterse took her first World Cup victory of the season in Gavere with a 28-second lead over Fem van Empel.

Complete results:

14.10 kilometers raced at an average speed of 15.338 km/hr

71 riders from 14 countries entered. 31 riders finished, 31 lapped, 4 did not finish, 1 did not start.