One week after the world cyclocross championships, racing continued this weekend with the final event of the Superprestige series in Middelkerke on Saturday and the second-to-last round of the X2O Trofee in Lille on Sunday.
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The heavy rain turned the usually sandy Middelkerke course into a mud fest in the final event of the Superprestige on Saturday.
Lucinda Brand (Baloise Trek Lions) won by a wide margin, crossing the finish line 1:15 ahead of second place Laura Verdonschot. Ceylin Alvarado (Alpecin-Deceuninck) rounded out the podium in third place.
Brand took control straight from the start, and a small mistake by Alvarado was enough for the Dutch rider to get a gap. After the first lap, Brand had 25 seconds on Alvarado and Annemarie Worst. On the second lap, Alvarado dropped Worst while Verdonschot was steadily moving forward through riders.
With two laps to go, Brand was on her way to victory with Verdonschot in second place. Fire is inimitable. With two laps to go, she has almost doubled her lead over Verdonschot, who is currently in second place and Alvarado in third. Worst finished in fifth place.
Alvarado won the final classification of the Telenet Superprestige for the third time in her career.
Eli Iserbyt claimed the 49th cyclocross victory of his career ahead of his Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal teammate Michael Vanthourenhout who was second. Joris Nieuwenhuis (Baloise Trek Lions) finished third.
Nieuwenhuis accelerated off the front in the first lap and established a small gap to chasers which included Iserbyt, Niels Vandeputte, and Jens Adams. Halfway through the race, the Dutch champion only had 25 seconds on the chasers while Vanthourenhout was moving up with Lars van der Haar on his wheel.
The Belgian champion made his move on the sixth lap, catching and passing riders until he connected and dropped Nieuwenhuis one lap later. European champion Vanthourenhout passed Nieuwenhuis to take second place.
It was the fourth Superprestige victory for Iserbyt, and he also won the classification of the Telenet Superprestige for the second time.
Fem van Empel and Niels Vandeputte win X2O Trofee Lille
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