All images: Tonke Berg
The central section of the cyclocross season is where it all happens: the field is crammed with competitors, the biggest names in the sport return to action, and we are treated to some amazing action across some of the most iconic courses in the low countries.
Over the course of the next two weeks, follow the website for all the latest race reports, and enjoy some incredible photography from Tonke Berg. First up, a trio of pre-Christmas races, beginning in Hulst.
UCI World Cup, Hulst (21 December)
A brutal start to the Christmas period in Hulst, with the tricky undulating parcours of Hulst made even more challenging by driving rain.
The women's race began in typical fashion - with Team SD Worx-ProTime's Marie Schreiber shot out of a cannon and storming into the lead. She built a decent lead on lap one, and once again the thought crossed my mind that one of these days, she will get away, and never be seen again (spoiler alert: she wasn't). Zoe Bäckstedt and Puck Pieterse were in pursuit, and further back, Lucinda Brand was recovering well after a slip on the start line left her out of the early running.
Of the rest of the contenders, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado was uncharacteristically quiet at the start of the race, while Blanka Vas was riding well again, keeping her composure and setting her own pace. x
As the race progressed, Schreiber's flying start had become a standout performance. In her groove, was she finally about to make good on the promise of her fast start, taking a 30-second gap going into lap 3, with a five-rider chase group trying to peg her back. Brand is used to this kind of chase and wasn't phased, setting up a cat-and-mouse game with Schreiber the mouse and Lucinda the wily cat. Further back, Pieterse made a couple of errors, and Alvarado appeared to be in some discomfort, so it was down to Brand to try and impact upon Schreiber's lead, but a mistake on the final lap confirmed what had already become clear: it was always Schreiber. She became the first non-Dutch woman in three years to win a UCI World Cup - and the rest of the elite women will be careful to try and thwart her lightning-fast starts in future.
The men's race was almost a carbon-copy, in terms of the way it unfolded, with Niels Vandeputte the front-runner, and given what Schreiber had just accomplished, it was easy to imagine a similar scenario for the men. Lars van der Haar also made a good start, after a few weeks of being some distance from his best form of earlier in the season.
A chasing group of around five riders formed with Vantourenhout the in-form rider among them, after three wins in a row, but it quickly became apparent that it wasn't going to be his day. He took a tumble down the hill, the first of a number of unforced errors that marked a day to forget for the World Cup leader. Instead, another rider re-finding his early season form, Felipe Orts, led the chase, but Vandeputte was solid and unflappable, making fewest mistakes on a day of total carnage, everyone else falling behind him in a catalogue of chaos. The field strung out, with Orts and Eli Iserbyt slowly closing the gap, but Vandeputte remained consistent and held firm in the solo lead. Further back, Cameron Mason was posting his best performance of the season, picking his way through the field, as Pim Ronhaar moved up to pass Iserbyt and put himself in contention for the podium.
In the end, Vandeputte held on and that was that - two races won from the front, a host of accidents and errors, and a strong showing from Orts and Mason.
UCI World Cup, Zonhoven (22 December)
One of cyclocross' greatest arenas, the iconic De Kuil, played host the following day, as the World Cup headed to Zonhoven and to the daunting sandy slopes.
Of the elite women, it was Zoe Bäckstedt who got the best start, and she opened up a gap over the course of the first couple of laps, with Annemarie Worst the next best rider on course. Schreiber's primary rival in the battle for the U23 World Cup overall lead, Bäckstedt was no doubt inspired by the Luxembourger's amazing ride the previous day in Hulst, and she powered clear, looking in dominant form.
Sadly for Worst, a crash on lap 2 saw her out of contention, departing the race with what was later confirmed to be two broken fingers - a huge shame on a day when she looked to be in the form of her career.
Bäckstedt's charge continued until lap 4 of 6, when Brand reeled her back in, with hailstones pelting the riders. It was only temporary exchange of the lead though, as Brand had an issue remounting her bike through one of the sandpits, and the young British rider was able to stay on her bike and regain the advantage.
The race was on. Back in better shape following an off-day in Hulst, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado jumped across to form a chase pair with Brand, and by lap 5 Alvarado had sewed up the gap and moved into first position, with Bäckstedt struggling to hold the wheel of the season's two protagonists thus far.
The two traded blows throughout the fifth lap until Alvarado stalled in the sandpit holding up Brand behind her, and as the Baloise-Trek rider struggled to remount behind her, Alvarado was free to open up a lead. She wasted no time, opening up the taps and storming clear, with Bäckstedt and Brand left battling for the podium places. On the final lap, Bäckstedt deployed her firepower to drop Brand and record an impressive second place, a career-best in a UCI World Cup for the British rider. For Brand, another consistent ride, but for Alvarado, proof that she's the best woman in the field so far this year.
The men's race had one sole focus: the return of Mathieu van der Poel. It's hardly news to suggest that everyone was expecting him to dominate, but to do so with such remorseless speed and power was a true statement of where he is at, physically, at this point in his career. Or perhaps he just had somewhere else to be after the race, as he fired off like a bullet from a gun and that was the end of the men's cyclocross season as a competitive entity.
OK, while that may be somewhat hyperbolic it's also sort of true - the rest of the field immediately slipped back into reprising their roles of 'best of the rest', as the race became a race for the podium. Two sets of teammates followed the imperious World Champion, Pim Ronhaar and Thibau Nys of Baloise-Trek Lions and shortly behind them, Laurens Sweeck and Joran Wyseure from Crelan-Corendon.
As MVDP opened out his lead, it was all we could do but marvel at his incredible skill and breath-taking speed. There's little else that can be said about the man, other than that watching him descend on the sand is like watching an elite surfer take on a mountainous wave without so much as a wobble. Truly gravity-defying.
Behind the solo ride for the win, a dodgy bike change for Ronhaar meant Nys moved into clear second, but he was 50 seconds down with five laps still to go. With Wout van Aert's return further delayed due to illness, and no indication that he would even be able to keep up with his long-time rival anyway given recent evidence, it seems the fans are in for a fair bit of anti-climax over the next few weeks.
The big chase group gradually split up over the following laps, with Lars van der Haar charging up to the fore and bringing Joran Wyseure and Eli Iserbyt with him, with Ronhaar fading and Toon Aerts trying to get back on terms with them. Vantourenhout was the form rider last week but he has had a weekend to forget so far.
A minor crash for Iserbyt allowed Aerts to push on, distancing van der Haar on the final lap and ensuring third place would come down to him and Wyseure. As for the final results, it's clear that (1) MVDP is back. (2) Thibau Nys is back... just 1.30 behind. And (3) Wyseure is up there on a level with the best of the rest, finishing strongly to take third.
Superprestige Mol (Zilvermeercross) (23 December)
And so to the fast and furious flat circuit around the Zilvermeer in Mol.
With slightly better conditions, a bit less mud and a much less dramatic sand section, it was a different kind of race to anything we've seen so far this season.
With a reduced women's field taking to the course in Mol, it was Inge van der Heijden who capitalised, making the strongest start to take the early lead, with Lucinda Brand and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado on her tail. Brand meant business, taking control of the race from lap 2, despite Alvarado's attempts to pass her on the long lakeside section.
The trio stuck together after that, aware that none of them would be able to make enough of a difference to drop the others, content instead to catch their breath into lap 3. Meanwhile, Belgian champion and veteran rider in her final season Sanne Cant rode a storming sand section to launch a bid to catch the leaders.
The trio finally became a duo on lap 4 as van der Heijden struggled on the long straight, and later in the lap Alvarado piled on the pressure to try and distance Brand, and it worked, mainly because Brand fell on a dismount as her pedal failed to unclip in time. It allowed Alvarado to open up her lead and as we have seen so many times this season, once the former world champ gets away, bringing her back is extremely difficult to do, even when you're Lucinda Brand. She won the race by 34 seconds in the end, with van der Heijden another 25 seconds behind her, to extend her lead in the Superprestige Series.
On the day in which we were expecting to welcome Wout van Aert back into the field, we instead had the lone figure of Mathieu van der Poel as the sole representative of 'the big three' (a big three which it had been confirmed a few days earlier would only be a 'big two' this winter, as Tom Pidcock announced he would forego the cyclocross season as he deals with the upheaval of changing teams).
The men's race would likely be characterised then by another MVDP masterclass, and just as in Zonhoven, we expected an early detonation. But it didn't come to pass in the same way on a course not really geared up for decisive attacks, and MVDP bided his time, allowing teammate Niels Vandeputte to lead on the first lap, before first Laurens Sweeck and then Michael Vantourenhout took turns to lead. Crelan-Corendon had numbers again with Joran Wyseure also in the lead group after a strong ride in Zonhoven, and Felipe Orts was once again in strong.
Lars van der Haar was able to move through into the lead heading into lap 4 of 10, a large number of circuits describing the compact nature of the parcours.
With a rainbow blossoming across darkening skies, the rain returned while the sun still streamed down on the riders - a true display of Belgian winter weather. Van der Haar accelerated on lap 4 bringing Sweeck and MVDP with him and opening a gap to the next group on the course. At one point, a small gap opened up to van der Poel, and this was clearly not appreciated by the world champ, who put his foot down and passed the two leaders after the sandpit. Of the two, only the sand specialist Sweeck was able to close back up to van der Poel to form a lead duo.
It looked to be all over a lap later however, as the Dutchman dropped the hammer on the long straight section by the lake, forcing an almost comical reaction by the camera operator as there was a scramble to pan out fast enough to try and keep both him and Sweeck in shot. But it wasn't over just yet, as Sweeck rode the sandpit to perfection, sewing up the gap again as MVDP chose to dismount and run. The following lap though, the damage was done. The elastic snapped and van der Poel was away and gone. With Sweeck clear in second place, the only remaining position to be decided barring incident or accident was third, which came down to Vantourenhout and Wyseure. In the end, the elder statesmen was able to hang on and complete the podium, a scant consolation for a weekend that hadn't gone his way.
Three days of high-octane racing led to two days of rest and relaxation a the 'crossers went away to charge their batteries over Christmas. They will be back on course later today for another racing block, in this most unforgiving and exciting of seasons.
Check this post again at the end of the day to enjoy fuller galleries of images, and see you for the second instalment of the kerstperiode diaries in a few days!
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