Mathieu van der Poel’s long-awaited debut was anything but boring – honest!
Kristof Ramon, Cor Vos
Many were pronouncing cyclocross dead on arrival at the Citadel of Namur for round four of the UCI Cyclocross World Cup, where Mathieu van der Poel was to make his season debut. However, all expectations of tedium were dashed – in the men’s race, at least.
The fortress at Namur always draws a crowd, and this year a record-breaking number of spectators (over 12,000) amassed along the route as the junior men, then elite women and men took to the attritional course, whose iconic off-camber sections, steep ramps and cobbled climbs lend the ‘Citadelcross’ a particular status on the cyclocross calendar. All who race it deserve plaudits, and victories are especially hard earned.
In the women’s race, even the arrival of Dutch national champion Puck Pieterse couldn’t prevent Lucinda Brand from taking a third dominant World Cup win – a 100% record having skipped Flamanville two weekends ago – but the battle for second was compelling, especially with the tireless Amandine Fouquenet fighting for the podium. As for Aniek van Alphen, the World Cup leader considered second equivalent to victory from the start, knowing that Brand couldn’t quite overhaul her series lead. Yet.
The men’s race was expected to be something of a procession as five-time Namur winner Van der Poel re-entered the field, along with all those who’d skipped Sardinia including World Cup leader Thibau Nys, the man Van der Poel singled out as being his biggest threat. But it was anything but a procession as four riders went hell for leather until the last half lap. Nys and Van der Poel appeared strongest of the lot, but Michael Vanthourenhout and Lars van der Haar could not be written off, the latter also playing teammate to Nys. In the end, a mistake from the World Cup leader split the group and launched the world champion off the front to a memorable victory.
Both elite results were exactly what were expected, but the afternoon ended very differently to how almost anyone imagined.
Elite women top 5
Lucinda Brand (Baloise Glowi Lions) 52:23Aniek van Alphen (Seven Racing) +0:43Amandine Fouquenet (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) +1:00Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) +1:21Jolanda Neff (Cannondale Factory Racing) +1:42
Elite men top 5
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 58:29Thibau Nys (Baloise Glowi Lions) +0:09Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Altez) +0:11Lars van der haar (Baloise Glowi Lions) +0:12Emiel Verstrynge (Crelan-Corendon) +0:42
Inge van der Heijden was quick off the start grid, a day after taking her first victory in the European champ’s jersey at Exact Cross Kortrijk. Unfortunately, this was the last Van der Heijden would see of the front of the race.
The fans were out in force.
This view from the fortifications shows just how hard Namur’s unique start is, entering the circuit via a steep hill – not the usual start/finish line.
As the climb stretched on, Amandine Fouquenet took the lead.
Other quick starters included 19-year-old Célia Gery and Lucia Bramati, with Lucinda Brand moving up. Leonie Bentveld, Aniek Van Alphen and Puck Pieterse were also close at hand.
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