At the Cyclocross European Championships in Pont-Chateau near Nantes in France Mathieu van der Poel from Beobank-Corendon won the sprint from a chase group on his STEVENS Super Prestige to win the Silver Medal. The new – surprising – European Champion is Toon van Aerts from Belgium. His compatriot Wout van Aert comes in third.

When Two People Quarrel …
The new European Champion had surprised everyone with a mid-race attack. Until then the peloton had choked off every attack after only about half a lap. The fast course with its wide curves, hard and dry surface, rather shallow climbs and without any sandy sections was a major factor in keeping the bunch closely packed during the first laps.

At first it was Laurens Sweeck of ERA-Circus who tried to get away with his STEVENS Super Prestige Disc, later Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) on the same model, Wout van Aert, Michael Vanthourenhout (Belgium) and Clement Venturini (France) rode to the front of the pack but each lasted less than a lap.

One reason Toon van Aerts was able to escape was due to the two top contenders Mathieu van der Poel und Wout van Aert had slowed-down the pace to keep a check of each other; another was that the strong Belgian squad allowed their compatriot to advance and then control the field from the back.

”When I saw for the first time the gap was already 37 seconds I knew it was too late”, said Mathieu van der Poel. In the final lap he sometimes was as far back as 13th place, yet he went for a surprise attack from the back just before the final curve which resulted in him eventually being the fastest chaser. ”Though I am a little disappointed a Silver Medal is not too bad”, he said after the race.

Sanne Cant Finishes 6th
In the Women’s Elite race World Champion Thalita de Jong also became European Champ after a long solo ride. Sanne Cant rode to the head of the race with her STEVENS Super Prestige at first yet had to pay tribute to the high tempo and eventually finished 6th.

Quinten Hermans defended his U23 Men’s title from last year by outsprinting Joris Nieuwenhuis and Sieben Wouters. The U23 Women’s race Gold medal was won by Chiara Teocchi. The 2017 European Cyclocross World Championships will take place in Tabor/Czech Republic on November 5th.