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Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) won his third successive cyclo-cross race in the most dramatic of World Cup races in Namur on Sunday when Toon Aerts (Deschacht-Hens-FSP) crashed on a devilishly difficult muddy descent just a few hundred meters from the finish line.
At the time of the crash, the two-time World Cup series winner looked like a sure bet to top off a courageous come-from-behind performance with a deserving victory. But he lost his balance near the bottom of the race’s penultimate descent and fell into the barriers. He scrambled to get back in the saddle, nearly unseating Vanthourenhout as he rode past, but by the time he was racing again he was 5 seconds behind the winner and never came closer.
He finished 11 seconds adrift, with Emiel Verstrynge (Crelan-Corendon), who hadn’t raced in more than a month, coming in third, at 31 seconds, the best World Cup showing of the 22-year-old Belgian’s brief career. But the day belonged to Vanthourenhout, who also won his second consecutive World Cup race of the year and extended his lead in the World Cup rankings. After winning two of the three World Cup races that have taken place, he has 105 points to 78 for Aerts.
“If you are in good condition, then luck is by your side,” Vanthourenhout said after the race. “I thought the race was over. But I know that if you are totally unlucky in the off-camber section it is really difficult, so it was in my mind to have a good line. I saw in front that Toon has a crash and so I just [went] full gas until the finish.”
The 31-year-old Belgian has never won the World Cup series, but he looks in the form of his life, after winning on Saturday at the X20 Trofee race at Herentals and coming top in the second World Cup race in Dublin, “It’s a very important GC for me,” he said. “We will see [how it goes] in a few weeks at Hulst and Zondhoven, which are very difficult for me.”
Aerts’s crash was one of many on the difficult Namur course, with its long, steep climbs and steep, slippery descents. The course also took its toll on the defending World Cup champion, Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), whose chronic back problem was exacerbated by the treacherous course. He started losing ground on the second of the race’s 9 laps and was seen holding the left side of his lower back before abandoning on lap 3.
His team boss Jürgen Mettepenningen told Het Niewsblad that the rider was suffering from sciatica, in which a muscle or a vertebra presses on a nerve, which can be very painful.
Meanwhile, in the race, which saw numerous lead changes in the first few laps, the trio of Vanthourenhout, Aerts and Verstrynge started to dominate in lap 5, during which Gerben Kuypers (Charles Liégeois Roastery CX), who had been in or near the lead, began to weaken.
The young Verstrynge went for it on lap 6 and led Vanthourenhout by 6 seconds and Aerts by 13 seconds going into lap 7, with Pim Ronhaar (Baloise Trek Lions) making a desperate effort to join the leaders. However, he could get no closer than 12 seconds and finished fourth. Aerts took the lead on lap 8 as the three riders started the final go-round bunched together.
When Vanthourenhout changed his bike in the last lap, Verstrynge accelerated but was soon overtaken by Aerts, who quickly opened up a gap. Vanthourenhout then rode desperately to catch up, passing Verstrynge, who looked tired and crashed on one of the nasty descents and never threatened again. Aerts looked strong and unbeatable until that dramatic descent, where he wobbled and fell, and Vanthourenhout pounced.
In addition to Verstrynge, another young rider had a breakthrough race at Namur, 21-year-old Tibor del Grosso (Alpecin-Deceuninck). The reigning U23 world champion finished fifth, 58 seconds behind Vathourenhout after winning the U23 X20 Trofee Herentals race on Saturday.
Vanthourehout took the Elite Men’s version of that race by besting Ronhaar on the final descent and keeping a gap until the finish. Ronhaar finished 3 seconds behind, with Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Corendon) in third, at 21 seconds.
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