He’s the European champion and the new Belgian champion, but on Sunday’s tenth round of the 2024-2025 UCI Cyclocross World Cup, Thibau Nys triumphed on a fast, dry course in Benidorm, Spain. Wout van Aert was stymied in getting on the podium. Michael Vanthourenhout took a manageable overall lead into the race, but he now leads by 33 points with two rounds remaining. Cody Scott, the lone Canadian, was 44th.
Preliminaries
Vanthourenhout hovered above Toon Aerts in the general classification. Wout van Aert took his first World Cup round of 2024-2025 season in Dendermonde, and he had triumphed last year at Benidorm. Young Tibor del Grosso wore the Dutch champion’s jersey while winning the U23 race earlier in the day. Having plucked it from Eli Iserbyt’s shoulders, Nys owned the Belgian title, but he sported the European champion’s jersey. It was the kind of day where the fans wore shorts and t-shirts.
As ususal Niels Vandeputte snagged the hole shot on Lap 1. Home hero Filipe Orts scrapped into Position 2. Van Aert had a long way to swim upstream. On the long pavement drag, Iserbyt pushed to the front, a spot Aerts wanted for himself. Cody Scott was 37th. Van Aert plucked the riders off one at a time.
Pauwels Sauzen duo Iserbyt and Vanthourenhout were the locomotives on Lap 2. Orts, Lars van der Haar and Vandeputte followed closely. Van Aert was up to 12th, only six seconds in arrears.
On Lap 3 of 8 the chain still consisted of many links. Van Aert was ninth, Cody Scott 43rd.
Nys chose Lap 4 to come to the front and stamp on the pedals. “Venga, Filipe!” was the cry as the Spaniard stayed in the picture. Iserbyt made a fine save as his front tire got sideways. Van Aert’s shadow loomed from seventh place.
Aerts was watching the World Cup title slip out of reach on Lap 5 as he sifted down into 17th and Vanthourenhout led the nontet fighting for the win. The string lengthened again on Lap 6, van der Haar giving it a go on the front and opening a little gap alongside Iserbyt.
Van der Haar and Iserbyt didn’t relent on the penultimate lap, drawing van Aert’s determined pursuit. All it took was the long, paved drag for Van Aert to emerge in the lead. Again, the group grew and Vanthourenhout pulled an octet into the final lap.
It was all to be sorted out on the bell lap. Iserbyt…
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