On Sunday, the 9th round of the UCI CX World Cup takes place in Dendermonde, Belgium. Although it was slated to be a throwdown between Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, the latter is a DNS due to a nagging injury sustained in Loenhout. This is the third race in a row from which he’s had to withdraw.
On Sunday, there will be junior men’s races, as well as elite men’s and women’s. In the junior men’s race, red-hot Emilien Belzile will vie for another big result. He recently took a strong finish at the Exact Cross. So far, his first Euro result was a 38th place finish at the UCI World Cup in Besançon on Dec. 29, followed by a 32nd place in Zonhoven and a 26th place in Hulst. His latest and best result came on Jan. 1, when he took fifth at the X2O Trofee Baal – GP Sven Nys.
Junior Émilien Belzile on the shock of first Euro ‘cross races
In the elite women’s, world champion Fem van Empel will once again square off against Lucinda Brand and Puck Pieterse. The Canadian athletes racing are Nico Knoll, Aislin Hallahan, Christiane Bilodeau, Mia De Martin, Dorothee Perron, and Amandi Fouquenet.
In the men’s, Michael Vanthourenhout and Eli Iserbyt will try to usurp Wout van Aert, who took his first win of the year at Saturday’s Superprestige. The Canadian riders racing are Cody Scott, Liam Sargent, Maxime St Onge, and Alexander Woodford.
Mathieu van der Poel on picking lines during ‘cross
You can catch all the action for free on the UCI YouTube Channel.
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