Even tighter than the women’s side at the start of the day, only three points separated the top two GC men before Saturday’s final round of the 2025-2026 Superprestige series, the Noordzeecross in Middelkerke, Belgium, where Niels Vandeputte held off round victor Michael Vanthourenhout to claim the title for the second year in a row.
Preliminaries
At the seventh round in chilly, windy Gullegem, Belgium, Vanthourenhout and Vandeputte engaged in a snowy slugfest with series leader Vandeputte prevailing–it was his first win of the season in the Big Three series. The two riders were locked together at top of the GC, only three points between them. Joris Nieuwenhuis, leader of the X2O Badkamers Trofee series, took the Middelkerke round last season.
Mees Hendrikx, in his distinctive green kit, nabbed the hole shot, but Nieuwenhuis was soon in front. Cameron Mason, Nieuwenhuis’ main rival at the top of the X2O Trofee classification, pushed into Position 2. Vandeputte was 12th and Vanthourenhout 15th. Vanthourenhout’s teammate Gerben Kuypers was on a fine ride and crossed the line with Mason four seconds after Nieuwenhuis.
You could throw a lasso around Vandeputte and Vanthourenhout at the start of Lap 2. Kuypers grabbed Nieuwenhuis’ back wheel.
Mason made it back to the leaders at the start of Lap 3 of 9, but suddenly Vanthourenhout sliced through the field and was up to third. Kuypers had bolted on Nieuwenhuis and Mason. Vandeputte scrambled. Kuypers crossed the line four seconds ahead of Vanthourenhout, Vandeputte fourth.
Vanthourenhout wanted Kuypers’ help on Lap 4 of 9, but the younger Pauwels Sauzen rider wasn’t having it. Vandeputte continued to keep an eye on his title rival. Finally, on Lap 5, the Pauwels Sauzen chaps linked up, Vandeputte in Position 3 with a 14-second lead on Filipe Orts in Position 4.
Orts was still 18 seconds in arrears of Vandeputte going into the penultimate lap, so it was as-you-were in terms of the overall competition. Kuypers was unlucky to get a front flat, but he evaded Vandeputte. Unfortunately, Kuypers was snakebit, and another mechanical meant that he dropped to third on the bell lap.
2025-2026 Superprestige, Round 8, Middelkerke
1) Michael Vanthourenhout (Belgium/Pauwels Sauzen)…
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