Aerts and van der Heijden Win European Cyclocross Championships

The 3.12 km course in the Belgian seaside town of Middelkerke is known as one of the toughest on the circuit, with its many deep sand pits, cobblestones, and lots of steep climbs and bumps. The winners had to be adept at riding through sand and maintaining high speeds over the constantly changing terrain.

Aerts outsprints Nys as Belgium goes 1-2-3

Sunday’s Elite Men’s Race was very tactical, with more than a dozen riders in contention for at least six of the eight laps. Defending champion and pre-race favourite Thibau Nys had his foot slip off the pedal at the start, and lost ground early, but he was back among the leaders by the middle of lap 1. Despite several mistakes in the sand and a wrong line on a stretch of beach, he rode among the leaders for the entire race.

Not so for Aerts. The 2016 European champion was shuffled back during the high-speed opening laps and trailed Nys and the three other riders in the lead group – Joran Wyseure and Michael Vanthourenhout of Belgium and Dutchman Pim Ronhaar – by 20 seconds at the end of lap 5. But he caught the leaders by the middle of lap 6, and these five riders took a 15-second lead into lap 7. In this penultimate lap, several other chasers caught up to the leaders, including Britain’s Cameron Mason and Emiel Verstrynge of the Netherlands, as an eight-rider group led the way into the final lap.

But Aerts and Nys opened a gap on their rivals in the final 300 metres, and the championship came down to a two-rider sprint in the final meters, which was won by Aerts. Wyseure finished third, at 3 seconds, completing a Belgian 1-2-3, with Ronhaar another second back in fourth, just ahead of Mason.

“This is such a special day,” an emotional Aerts said after the race. “Almost 10 years ago, my career started at the European Championships. And now, so many years later, I think I can launch my second career again.” He was referring to his 2016 European championship and the two-year ban for doping he was given in 2022, a charge he has always strenuously denied, arguing that the substance had come into his system due to a contaminated dietary supplement.

“The race was like it was over in a few seconds,” he went on to say, always on the edge of tears. “In my mind, I [had] lost the race because I was stuck in the traffic of the other racers in the sand, but I had some strong parts also in the sand, and I could come back to the front group… But luck was on my side today. It’s [been] a while ago I had such luck. The last years were so difficult, and to reach this today, it’s incredible.”

Toon Aerts — The 3.12 km course in the Belgian seaside town of Middelkerke is known as one of the toughest on the circuit, with its many deep sand pits, cobblestones, and lots of steep climbs and bumps. © Profimedia

Van der Heijden goes start to finish in a Dutch sweep

Saturday’s Elite Women’s race was the opposite of the men’s tactical struggle as van der Heijden took the lead just a few pedal strokes after the start and led for the entire six laps and 18.72 km of the race to win the title. She beat fellow Dutchwoman, and pre-race favourite, Lucinda Brand by 41 seconds, with Aniek van Alphen finishing third, at 56 seconds, completing a Dutch sweep of the championship podium.

With three-time defending champion Fem van Empel unable to compete due to illness, Brand, the 2021 European champion and top-ranked female rider, was the clear favourite. But she had a bad start, ending up 11th at the first curve, as van der Heijden opened a small gap over Blanka Vas of Hungary on the first climb. Soon, Vas began to weaken as a group of four riders – Brand, van Alphen, Manon Bakker, and Italy’s Sara Casasola – took up the chase.

At the end of lap 1, van der Heijden held a lead of 21 seconds over her pursuers. At the end of lap 2, the lead was 26 seconds, and the chase group was reduced to three, as Bakker faded and eventually abandoned the race. The gap between leader and chasers remained stable until the second half of lap 4, when van der Heijden accelerated, and the trio chasing her played mind games with each other about who would lead the chase. By the end of the lap, van der Heijden led by 44 seconds, and the race was effectively over.

Lap 5 proved decisive for the podium as Casasola crashed in a sand pit and lost time she could never make up. She finished fourth, as she did last year, 2:03 behind the winner. Brand eventually showed her class by beating van Alphen for the second spot, an excellent finish in view of her slow start and at least two dismounts in sand pits during the race.

“I knew it was really important to have a good start, and I went really fast to the first corner, was the first at the top, and did my own pace,” van der Heijden said after the race. “The first lap was really, really hard to make the gap, and I didn’t expect to hold it to the finish line, but I’m really happy to make it.” Her delight was obvious as she burst into tears as she crossed the finish line.

“Hopefully, I can continue like this,” the 2019 U23 world champion said. “The first few races [in the season] were good, but the last few were still good, but… I missed out on the podium a few times, so I knew this lap with the sand pits, it’s something for me. I really cannot believe that I’m the European champion.”