Van Anrooij and Van der Poel triumph in the sludge of Gavere

The World Cup cyclo-cross race in Gavere, the eleventh in the series of fourteen races, ended in a Dutch party. After first Shirin van Anrooij had triumphed with the women, Mathieu van der Poel showed that he was the best with the men in the Belgian sludge.

The 20-year-old Van Anrooij left veteran Lucinda Brand behind on the tough course, which had turned into one big mud pool due to the rain from earlier in the day. It was her second victory in a World Cup competition after Hilvarenbeek.

Fem van Empel, the leader in the World Cup standings, was absent from the roll call due to an injury sustained last week.

While Brand quickly fell behind due to struggling with her bike in a sharp corner, Puck Pieterse immediately took the initiative shortly after the start. Van Anrooij, however, soon approached on the course around Grenier Castle. She even went over and over, but her rival closed in anyway.

In the second lap, Pieterse got into serious trouble because her rear wheel was jammed by the thick gunk. Dragging the bike, she finally made it to the material station, where she was able to jump on the saddle of a clean copy with a delay of more than forty seconds.

Some competitors had taken the opportunity to move up a place. Such as the 33-year-old veteran Brand, who had fought back well after the setback in the initial phase and Van Anrooij approached smoothly. She even managed to catch up with her teammate at Trek-Segafredo, but was immediately left behind again.

At the start of the fourth and final round, van Anrooij had made another twelve second gap. That margin was too much for former world champion Brand. She finished second in 37 seconds, while Pieterse, who had moved up a few places, crossed the finish line in 50 counts in third.

Despite her absence in the standings, Van Empel continues to lead the dance with 330 points. Number two Pieterse earned 25 points in Gavere and is now at 290. Van Anrooij displaced her also absent compatriot Ceylin Alvarado from third place, but with 199 points is at a respectable distance from the top two.

Van der Poel did not appear in the piece a week ago in the snow of Val di Sole and had to acknowledge his superior in Wout van Aert in Mol on Friday. And then he didn’t like it at all. The fact that he had come to Gavere with feelings of revenge was already apparent from his furious start on the still slippery course.

However, a puncture on lap two threw Van der Poel back. World champion Tom Pidcock took over the lead, while Van Aert had found the wake of his Dutch rival. From that phase in the battle it was a constant exchange between ‘The Big Three’.

Van der Poel appeared to have enough left to throw out another gear in the fifth of six laps. This time his competitors had to pass. The Alpecin-Deceuninck driver crossed the line solo, good for his third World Cup victory of the season.

Van Aart followed in second at 27 seconds, while Pidcock conceded 54 counts. Lars van der Haar finished fifth at 2.20.