Namur Cyclo-cross podium history | 2020 edition | 2023 edition
Weather at Namur at 2:30 PM, local time: 6C (42F), fog, with the wind from the north at 6 km/hr (4 mph). There is just a 6% chance of rain during the afternoon.
Michael Vanthourenhout approaches the finish more than a half-minute ahead of second-place Tom Pidcock. Photo: Cyclephotos
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The race: Here's the UCI's race report.
A wonderful victory for Michael Vanthourenhout today on the Citadelle de Namur. After a long race chasing, he was able to pull away from top favourite Tom Pidcock in lap 5. After a few slips by the latter, he managed to beat the young Briton by more than half a minute in the 11th round of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup.
From lap 1, the road to victory seemed open for Toon Aerts (Baloise Trek Lions). He immediately put an elite group of chasers a few seconds behind. At an unseen pace, he was able to maintain his lead for a few laps. Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), who started to overtake the other men from behind, was right on his heels until lap 4.
After a slide and flat tyre for Aerts, he had to let the British champion go. Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal) also jumped from the background over Aerts. And Quinten Hermans (Tormans Circus Cyclo Cross), who was also riding a strong race, had to let the men in front go due to problems with his shoes.
For a moment it looked like Pidcock would race solo to victory, but after a few technical errors it was on and on for Vanthourenhout who saw his lead on the Briton increase in the last two laps. With tears in his eyes, Vanthourenhout crossed the finish line of the 11th round of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Namur after seven incredibly hard laps. Tom Pidcock finished second at 36 seconds, followed by Toon Aerts at 51 seconds.
Complete results:
1 | VANTHOURENHOUT Michael | PAUWELS SAUZEN-BINGOAL | 59min 28sec |
2 | PIDCOCK Tom | INEOS GRENADIERS | @ 36sec |
3 | AERTS Toon | BALOISE TREK LIONS | 0:51 |
4 | HERMANS Quinten | TORMANS-CIRCUS | 1:38 |
5 | ISERBYT Eli | PAUWELS SAUZEN-BINGOAL | 2:01 |
6 | SOETE Daan | DESCHACHT-GROUP HENS | 2:06 |
7 | SWEECK Laurens | PAUWELS SAUZEN-BINGOAL | 2:15 |
8 | VAN KESSEL Corné | TORMANS-CIRCUS | 2:40 |
9 | DUBAU Joshua | MASSI | 2:44 |
10 | RÜEGG Timon | CROSS TEAM LEGENDRE | 2:46 |
11 | MEISEN Marcel | ALPECIN-FENIX | 3:03 |
12 | VAN DER HAAR Lars | BALOISE TREK LIONS | 3:07 |
13 | BAESTAENS Vincent | DESCHACHT-GROUP HENS | 3:18 |
14 | AERTS Thijs | BALOISE TREK LIONS | 3:22 |
15 | MEIN Thomas | TORMANS-CIRCUS | 3:31 |
16 | BOROS Michael | 3:48 | |
17 | KUHN Kevin | TORMANS-CIRCUS | 3:56 |
18 | ORTS LLORET Felipe | BURGOS-BH | 3:59 |
19 | TURNER Ben | TRINITY RACING | 4:03 |
20 | VANDEBOSCH Toon | PAUWELS SAUZEN-BINGOAL | 4:23 |
21 | ADAMS Jens | 4:46 | |
22 | BERTOLINI Gioele | SELLE ITALIA-GUERCIOTTI-ELITE | 5:13 |
23 | WHITE Curtis | CANNONDALE/CYCLOCROSSWORLD | 5:18 |
24 | MOTTIEZ Gilles | CROSS TEAM LEGENDRE | 5:29 |
25 | DORIGONI Jakob | SELLE ITALIA-GUERCIOTTI-ELITE | 5:30 |
26 | GODRIE Stan | 5:39 | |
27 | HECHT Gage | AEVOLO | 6:02 |
28 | GRAS Yan | TEAM PODIOCOM CC | 6:09 |
29 | SUAREZ FERNANDEZ Kevin | NESTA-MMR CX TEAM | 6:21 |
30 | CHAMERAT DUMONT Anthony | 6:28 | |
31 | WERNER Kerry | 6:31 | |
32 | WEBER Sascha | TREK-VAUDE | |
33 | HAIDET Lance | L39ION of LOS ANGELES | |
34 | PHILIBERT Aurelien | ARDENNES CROSS TEAM GECIBAT | |
35 | VAN DER MEER Gosse | ||
36 | VAN DER POEL David | ALPECIN-FENIX | |
37 | PETRUS Lubomir | ||
38 | SWEECK Diether | IKO-CRELAN | |
39 | DUBAU Lucas | MASSI | |
40 | SAMPARISI Nicolas | KTM ALCHEMIST | |
41 | MARASCO Lorenzo | SEBMOTOBIKES | |
42 | SWARTZ Caleb | ||
43 | ULIK Matej | EXPRES CZ-TUFO | |
44 | SAMPARISI Lorenzo | KTM ALCHEMIST | |
45 | VAN DEN HAM Michael | ||
46 | LÜTHI Eric | SF RACING | |
47 | BOULANGER Hugo | ||
48 | GINIAT Andrew | ||
49 | CLOUTIER Tyler | ||
50 | MALNASI Jozsef-Attila | ||
51 | NYSTROM SPENCER Felipe |
Lucinda Brand wins Namur Cross for the fourth time in a row.
The race: Here's the UCI's race report:
Namur proved once again that the 11th round of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup would not be a World Cup without the round on the Citadel of Namur. The citadelcross provided a spectacular race for the women elite, where an overpowering Lucinda Brand put on a one-woman show.
In the first lap, Denise Betsema (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) and Lucinda Brand (Baloise Trek Lions) were able to break away from the chasing women. Not much later Brand continued her acceleration, putting Betsema at a distance. In lap 2 she was able to take 6 seconds on the chasing woman of Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal.
After a few clear rounds, Brand started to get tired and made some mistakes. In the 4th lap, she even crashed when she doubled the Canadian Walcroft on the course. Yet her lead on Betsema did not diminish. On the contrary. The reigning world champion extended her lead to about 14 seconds thanks to her strong descents.
In the background Betsema pulled out all the stops, but it was to no avail. The Dutch rider finished in second place. Puck Pieterse also rode the entire race alone on her way to bronze. In the last lap it was clear that her legs were getting sore as well, but still she could stay ahead of the chasing Fem van Empel and Ceylin Alvarado and took the third place on the podium.
Complete results:
1 | BRAND Lucinda | BALOISE TREK LIONS | 53min 7sec |
2 | BETSEMA Denise | PAUWELS SAUZEN-BINGOAL | @ 20sec |
3 | PIETERSE Puck | ALPECIN-FENIX | 1:16 |
4 | VAN EMPEL Fem | PAUWELS SAUZEN-BINGOAL | 1:31 |
5 | ALVARADO Ceylin Del Carmen | ALPECIN-FENIX | 1:34 |
6 | CLAUZEL Hélene | A.S. BIKE | 1:41 |
7 | VAN DER HEIJDEN Inge | 777 | 1:49 |
8 | VAN ANROOIJ Shirin | BALOISE TREK LIONS | 1:53 |
9 | PERSICO Silvia | VALCAR-TRAVEL & Service | 1:54 |
10 | ROCHETTE Maghalie | 1:56 | |
11 | HONSINGER Clara | CANNONDALE/CYCLOCROSSWORLD | 2:14 |
12 | BURQUIER Line | A.S. BIKE | 2:16 |
13 | WORST Annemarie | 777 | 2:20 |
14 | LECHNER Eva | TRINX | 2:32 |
15 | VAN ALPHEN Aniek | 777 | 2:35 |
16 | FRANCK Alicia | PROXIMUS-ALPHAMOTORHOMES | 2:46 |
17 | BAKKER Manon | IKO-CRELAN | 2:53 |
18 | NORBERT RIBEROLLE Marion | STARCASINO | 3:31 |
19 | FOUQUENET Amandine | 3:45 | |
20 | KAY Anna | STARCASINO | 4:00 |
21 | CANT Sanne | IKO-CRELAN | 4:03 |
22 | MAJERUS Christine | SD WORX | 4:12 |
23 | CLAUZEL Perrine | A.S. BIKE | 4:16 |
24 | ONESTI Olivia | STARCASINO | 4:40 |
25 | MORICHON Anais | ROYALBIKESHOP.COM | 4:45 |
26 | CLOUSE Katie | CANNONDALE/CYCLOCROSSWORLD | 5:11 |
27 | REALINI Gaia | SELLE ITALIA-GUERCIOTTI-ELITE | 5:13 |
28 | MUNRO Madigan | TREK FACTORY RACING | 5:52 |
29 | MCGILL Sidney | 6:14 | |
30 | TRUYEN Marthe | IKO-CRELAN | 6:31 |
31 | SCHNEEBELI Jacqueline | 7:09 | |
32 | EIBL Ronja | ALPECIN-FENIX | 7:15 |
33 | VAN LOY Ellen | 7:24 | |
34 | GONZALEZ BLANCO Lucia | NESTA-MMR CX TEAM | 7:27 |
35 | MELLOR Amira | SPECTRA WIGGLE | 7:37 |
36 | BRANDAU Elisabeth | 8:00 | |
37 | TEOCCHI Chiara | TRINITY RACING | 8:02 |
38 | BERNSTEIN Caitlin | 8:04 | |
39 | BASTIAENSSEN Fauve | BNS TECHNICS-GROEP T.O.M. | 8:44 |
40 | KRAHL Judith | TEAM SCHAMEL | |
41 | HENZELIN Lise-Marie | ||
42 | KURNICKÁ Tereza | ||
43 | BRAMATI Lucia | TRINX | |
44 | DE WILDE Julie | IKO-CRELAN | |
45 | CREES Xan | SPECTRA WIGGLE | |
46 | NUSS Raylyn | ||
47 | CRABBÉ Kiona | PLANTURA-PURA | |
48 | ZAVETA Erica | ||
49 | DOBBELAERE Jana | STARCASINO | |
50 | SEIDEL Clea | ||
51 | SCHREIBER Marie | TORMANS-CIRCUS | |
52 | KAPTHEIJNS Maud | DESCHACHT-GROUP HENS | |
53 | DURAFFOURG Lauriane | A.S. BIKE | |
54 | STEPANOVA Karla | MALOJA PUSHBIKERS | |
55 | VANICKOVÁ Tereza | ||
56 | MEGALE Anna | ||
57 | PEETERS Jinse | PROXIMUS-ALPHAMOTORHOMES | |
58 | WERNER Emily | ||
59 | CUETO VEGA Sara | UNICAJA BANCO-GIJON | |
60 | WLODARCZYK Dominika | ||
61 | PINTO LARENJO Lydia | NESTA-MMR CX TEAM | |
62 | VERVLOET Sterre | ||
63 | JAQUET Prisca | ||
64 | KELLY Siobhan | ||
65 | GROSS Rebecca | ||
66 | BILODEAU Christiane | ||
67 | WALCROFT Katelyn |
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