Mathieu van der Poel and Fem van Empel won the World Cup cyclo-cross race in Antwerp on Sunday afternoon. Both Brabanders rode sovereignly to victory on the technical course on the banks of the Scheldt.
It was still exciting how Mathieu van der Poel’s body will hold up during the Scheldecross this Sunday. A day earlier he crashed in the super prestige cyclocross of Boom. De Brabander hit the cobblestones hard and his knee and shoulder in particular hurt.
No size
In Antwerp it soon became clear that there was no measure to Van der Poel. In the second round, the cyclo-cross rider set a good pace and put his major competitor Wout van Aert behind. Lars van der Haar could not keep up with De Brabander either.
Van Aert counterattacked a lap later and nibbled off his backlog, but was already well behind Van der Poel. When the Belgian fell, the victory was won for the Brabander. Van der Poel eventually won with 23 seconds ahead of Van Aert.
“I think this is a fun race and I actually drove around flawlessly. That’s a good sign. It’s a pity that I’m going to Spain on Monday to train in the sun for a few weeks, because I just got into the cross rhythm. But we keep to the schedule, because the focus is on spring,” says Van der Poel.
Fifth win
The start of Fem van Empel’s World Cup ride started a little less easily than with her fellow countryman Van der Poel. The rider from Sint Michielsgestel had to keep going to keep up with her rival Puck Pieterse.
Van Empel only overtook her halfway through the race and she rode unthreatened to victory. “In the beginning I had very cold hands and that made shifting a bit more difficult. In the second part I drove my own race and I was a lot more concentrated.”
For Fem van Empel it had been a while since she had won, even though she scored three podium places. “I said in advance that November would be a training month. It is now December, so I’m glad to be back,” said Van Empel. It is her fifth World Cup victory this season and she also leads the standings.