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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia
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Herentals, Belgium
Men:
Again, Mathieu van der Poel has again put in an impressive performance. Belga photo
The race: Here is a machine-translation of the race organizer's report.
With a pure demonstration, Mathieu van der Poel has underlined his return to the field. He had the holeshot and already rode away from the opposition on the first ascent of the Ski Mountain. The other returning star, Tom Pidcock, fought his way from nineteenth place to second place.
Who else than Mathieu van der Poel dived into the field first. The Dutch opted for a rocket start and already had a huge lead after the Skiberg. While the current world champion was almost out of sight on the first passage of the finish, former world champion Tom Pidcock had a more difficult start. He only finished the first lap nineteenth, 36 seconds behind the leader.
The battle for the remaining podium spots became more exciting than the fight for victory. Lars van der Haar achieved rapid acceleration on the Skiberg in the second round, and in the background Laurens Sweeck was able to hold up in a spectacular manner. Van der Haar saw Niels Vandeputte join, Eli Iserbyt and Michael Vanthourenhout were also present. Cameron Mason's recovery after a bad start was striking, while Quinten Hermans and Gianni Vermeersch finished neatly in the top 10 in their first cyclocross of the season.
Van der Poel performed a one-man show and quickly rode just under a minute ahead of the opposition. Iserbyt, Van der Haar and Vandeputte were able to close the gap in the battle for second place. Behind them a real peloton emerged, including Pidcock, who was increasingly getting into his rhythm. Together with his compatriot Cameron Mason, he would make the jump to the first pursuers. Niels Vandeputte had to drop out and ended up with Laurens Sweeck.
Van der Poel crash
It was a bit of a shock for the world champion who took a big hit in a descent. Just like in Glasgow, Van der Poel did not let it get to his heart and he rode relentlessly to victory. His compatriot Van der Haar also became acquainted with the Kempen soil, which also went without many consequences for him. In the final lap, Pidcock forced his contemporary Iserbyt to make a mistake on the Skiberg and thus rode to second place. Van der Haar passed Iserbyt in the final meters and remains leader in the rankings. With Mason, a second Briton finished in the top five.
Results:
1 | Mathieu van der Poel | Alpecin-Deceuninck | 59min 20sec |
2 | Tom Pidcock | INOES Grenadiers | @ 28sec |
3 | Lars Van Der Haar | Baloise Trek Lions | 0:29 |
4 | Eli Iserbyt | Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal | 0:30 |
5 | Cameron Mason | Cyclocross Reds | 0:59 |
6 | Niels Vandeputte | Alpecin-Deceuninck | 1:12 |
7 | Laurens Sweeck | Crelan-Corendon | 1:28 |
8 | Gianni Vermeersch | Alpecin-Deceuninck | 1:52 |
9 | Quinten Hermans | Alpecin-Deceuninck | s.t. |
10 | Michael Vanthourenhout | Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal | s.t. |
Women:
Fem van Empel (right) just beats Lucina Brand. Belga photo
The race: Here is a machine-translation of the race organizer's report.
Fem van Empel has booked three in a row in the X2O Badkamers Trophy in Herentals. Her accelerations on the Ski Mountain were not enough to completely eliminate Lucinda Brand. In a pressing sprint she was eventually able to beat her older compatriot.
The holeshot in Herentals was surprising for the British Ruby James, who was immediately overshadowed by Fem van Empel. The world champion suffered a deep wound in a fall in Spain and also suffered from a cold. During the exploration of the cross she also fell. With some caution she let Lucinda Brand take the lead in the first of five rounds. Annemarie Worst, Manon Bakker and Denise Betsema were able to pick up their wagon.
After Brand had briefly taken the initiative, Van Empel set a blistering acceleration during the second ascent of the Skiberg. Brand had to set foot behind Worst and the duo followed in no time, 8 seconds behind the unleashed world champion. Denise Betsema kept in touch with the pursuers in the background. Manon Bakker and Anna Kay had already comfortably secured fifth and sixth place.
Successful pursuit
Brand gave chase with conviction, shook off Worst and was able to halve the gap with Van Empel. A bike change set her back a few seconds again, but with two laps to go everything could be done again. A great duel arose between the 34-year-old rider from Baloise Trek Lions and the 21-year-old rider from Jumbo-Visma. Brand flirted downhill with two feet off the click pedal with a crash and put pressure on her younger compatriot. However, they did not budge, they entered the final round with two.
Van Empel won the sprint towards Skiberg and immediately opened up a gap while running. The world champion continued, but was unable to deliver the shot to Brand's neck. Shortly after the equipment station, the two strongest came together again and a sprint seemed inevitable. A late slip gave Van Empel a few meters ahead. Brand managed to get back to the wheel, but no longer had the strength to pass Van Empel. 45 seconds later, Worst came third ahead of Betsema. Kay had remounted Bakker for fifth place.
1 | Fem van Empel | Jumbo-Visma | 43min 19sec |
2 | Lucinda Brand | Baloise Trek Lions | s.t. |
3 | Annemarie Worst | Cyclocross Reds | 0:45 |
4 | Denise Betsema | Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal | 1:14 |
5 | Anna Kay | Cyclocross Reds | 1:52 |
6 | Manon Bakker | Crelan-Corendon | 1:58 |
7 | Francesca Baroni | Hubo-Remotive | 2:37 |
8 | Larissa Hartog | Giant-LIV-Benelux | 3:00 |
9 | Kiona Crabbé | Proximus-Cyclis-Alphamotorhomes | 3:36 |
10 | Xaydee Van Sinaey | Crelan-Corendon | 4:09 |
Tom Pidcock's INEOS Granadiers reports on Herentals Cyclocross race:
The third round of the X2O Badkamers Trofee played out in fast, mild conditions in Belgium. Pidcock began on the second row, but after an opening lap spent finding his feet, found himself deep in the pack.
The Grenadier quickly battled back from 19th, moving through the field to position himself on the back of the second chasing group by lap two. One circuit later he was back in the top 10.
Up ahead Mathieu van der Poel impressed with a start to finish solo victory, but all eyes were on the battle behind for the podium places. On lap five Pidcock rode across the gap to latch onto the lead chase group, featuring Eli Iserbyt, Lars van der Haar and Neils Vandeputte.
Ahead of taking the bell Pidcock launched a big acceleration, and over the course of the final lap was able to maintain his slender advantage, seeing off the advances of Iserbyt on the final steep climb of the day. In the end Pidcock came home 28 seconds back on Van der Poel in a very encouraging start to the winter.
“That’s my best first cross race [of the season]. The first two or three laps I was finding my way. I like that course a lot, so hopefully today opened me up and tomorrow I can race well.”
Pidcock’s season continues on Sunday as he takes on the World Cup round on the iconic Namur course.
And here’s the report from women’s race winner Fem van Empel’s Team Jumbo-Visma:
Fem van Empel has sprinted to her tenth win of the season in Herentals. The 21-year-old rider of Team Jumbo Visma prevailed in a thrilling final with Lucinda Brand. Van Empel remains unbeaten in the X2O Trofee competition after the third race.
In Herentals, the riders were presented with a fast track on Saturday afternoon. After two laps and some hard work on the Skiberg, the first significant differences had been made, and a duel between Van Empel and Brand seemed inevitable. Van Empel tried to get away, but Brand caught up, and the two battled it out to the line. In a neck-and-neck race, Van Empel proved to be the strongest.
The Dutchwoman had a difficult build-up to this weekend's cross programme, with a crash at the start of the week and a cold. In her own words, she struggled with her physical condition today. "Especially the big efforts were tough. I spent more time in bed than on the bike this week. Of course, you feel it. But from now on, it can only get better."
While Van Empel has often crossed the line alone this season, she had more to fear from her rivals in Herentals. "Brand was really strong today. She never stops and never gives up. I started the sprint from a distance. Such a long sprint is not the best, but I just gave it a go, and it worked well”, she said. "It was nice to fight from start to finish again.”
After three races in the X2O Trofee competition and three wins for the Jumbo Visma rider, Van Empel is the undisputed leader of the standings. "The extra seconds I gained today are a nice bonus. There are a few more races on the calendar in the new year. Then I'll go for it again."
The win at Herentals is Van Empel's tenth in a row this season. Normally, Van Empel would have started the World Cup race in Namur tomorrow (Sunday). However, after her crash and cold earlier this week and today's efforts, the team decided that Van Empel would not race tomorrow and would focus on the rest of her season.
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