Monday was the day: the return of cyclocross in Hofstade. At the return, seventeen years after the last performance, they could look forward to the arrival of Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert. In addition, a new version of the Turbo Cross organized by Average Rob was on the agenda, in which defending champion Bas Tietema did not walk away with the victory flowers this time.
At the Turbo Cross – which started at 5 p.m., after the regular cyclo-cross races – the participants were divided into four categories: sportswomen, sportsmen, famous women and famous men. Senne Knaven, Bas Tietema, Rick Zabel, Jamie-Lee Six, Luca Brecel and Enzo Knol, among others, are participating. Last year, Tietema and Puck Moonen, who was absent this year due to an operation, won as a duo.
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The Turbo Cross started with the Pro Women race. There were real athletes at the start: Lotto rider Mieke Docx was there, but triathlete Julia Schuler and clay world champion Kim Knaeps were also at the start. However, they were all beaten by Senne Knaven. Servais Knaven’s daughter rode in the past for the AG Insurance-Soudal training team, and let her legs do the talking.
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Then it was the men’s turn, with a nice starting list. Bas Tietema and Josse Wester from Unibet Rose Rockets were there, but also former professionals such as Bart Aernouts, Marcel Meisen, Bert De Backer and Rick Zabel. However, it was motorcycle racer Kay De Wolf who took the lead. Behind that there were more than enough falls, to the delight of the spectators. The win here went to mountain biker Martin Maes.
“The level has gone up a lot,” laughed Tietema, who now competed with the ex-pros after winning the duo race last year with Puck Moonen, who is currently recovering from a femoral artery operation. ‘I already said to Rob: just because I won last year does not mean that I have become a top athlete. We enjoyed it and I finished ahead of Josse (Wester, ed.). Of course, that was the internal struggle we had.”
‘I thought it was very nice, because they had created a kind of arena. They were all standing there with beer and I thought: let’s go for it, I’ll do an ad,’ laughs Tietema, who received a failing grade from Wester for his performance.
‘The success of this concept is that it combines a top sporting event with this entertainment. For us it’s a bit back to the rootswith our Tour de Tietema canal. It is important for us to continue participating. Having fun and having fun together is still the basis and this is perfect for that,” laughs Tietema, who has set herself a sports goal for next year: running a half marathon within 1 hour and 40 minutes.
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Then the real party could begin, with the celebs! Radio DJ Nona Van Braeckel, boxer Oshin Derieuw, actress Femke Van der Steen and a whole host of internet personalities were at the start there. The winner was Myron Koops, the Dutch influencer and friend of YouTuber Enzo Knol.
He himself took part in the final competition, that of the famous gentlemen. With organizers Average Rob and Arno the Kid themselves, but also Knol, Tiktok star Sam Cornforth and cycling influencers Benji Naesen and Bavo Mortier, it was a lot of fun. Ultimately, Samuel De Graef managed to win the cross, ahead of rower Ward Lemmelijn. Average Rob himself rode to a good fourth place.
