Mathieu van der Poel, Sanne Cant, Julien Taramarcaz, Toon Vandebosch, Jessica Lambracht, Loris Rouiller and Larissa Luttuschka will now wear their respective country’s National Champion jersey for one year. All these victories have one thing in common: They were all won with a STEVENS Super Prestige.

These new or repeated champion titles of their countries or their age category (counting from the U19 category and up) are complimented by several other outstanding performances and further podium placings.

All National Championships in the world take place on the same weekend, three weeks before the UCI Cyclocross World Championships on January 28 and 29 in Bieles/Luxemburg.

Mathieu van der Poel of Team Beobank-Corendon won another Dutch Champion’s jersey. The 21-year old won for the third time in a row and confirmed his role as the top contender. From the third lap he was alone in the lead. Corne van Kessel and Lars van der Haar came in second and third while David van der Poel followed in fourth place.

”I may not have started that well but with the first increase in tempo I was able to open a gap. It is always great to be Dutch Champion!”, Mathieu van der Poel said after the race, who will now prepare go to Spain to prepare for the Worlds. Therefore he will skip the following World Cup race in Fiuggi/Italy on January 15.

Title Defense A Hard Piece Of Work
In Belgium Sanne Cant delivered an unusual picture, but only from the outside. Since in the last seven years she either was Belgian Champion or even European Champion also, she actually wears her Enertherm-Beobank team jersey only for the Belgian National Championships.

From the sports perspective it was a familiar sight when she crossed the finish line first for the eighth consecutive time in her championship races. This time only four seconds ahead of runner-up Laura Verdonschot – but more than a minute ahead of third placed Ellen van Loy.

Sanne said after the race: ”I knew that Laura was in great shape, but I had not expected that it would last until the final lap. This may be the championship I worked the hardest for.”

In the Men’s Elite race Laurens Sweeck of ERA-Circus was defeated in the fight for second place. Though the Belgian vice champion of 2016 lost the sprint against Kevin Pauwels he eventually rode his STEVENS Super Prestige Disc to win Bronze. Meanwhile at the head of the race Wout van Aert had secured the lead and soloed to another victory with 49 seconds ahead.

Sweeck’s team mate Julien Taramarcaz of reclaimed his Swiss title in the Men’s Elite race which he had already won in 2015.

Five Medals For STEVENS Racing Team
At the German Championships in Queidersbach near Kaiserslautern Jessica Lambracht of STEVENS Racing Team reclaimed the championship title she had already won two years ago in Borna. In Queidersbach she stood on the podium accompanied by her team mates Stefanie Paul and Lisa Heckmann. In the same race but riding in the U23 category Larissa Luttuschka of RK Endspurt 09 Cottbus won the Gold Medal on her STEVENS Super Prestige, confirming her great performance throughout the season.

The Men’s Elite race was won by Marcel Meisen. Last year’s winner Philipp Walsleben of Beobank-Corendon rode his STEVENS Super Prestige to Bronze behind Sascha Weber. He was followed by five further riders of STEVENS Racing Team who all finished in the top ten.

In the U19 race David Westhoff-Wittwer, Tim Wollenberg und Luca Bockelmann struggled but weren’t able to fend off local hero and eventual winner U19 runner-up German Champion on the road Niklas Märkl. Finishing in places two, three and four they yet delivered an outstanding team effort.

The international cyclocross scene now will move on to the Telenet UCI World Cup races on January 15 in Fiuggi near Rome and January 22 in Hoogerheide, Netherlands. They are considered the final endurance test before the UCI Cyclocross World Championships on January 28 and 29 in Bieles/Luxemburg.