{"id":7482,"date":"2025-01-13T12:10:48","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T11:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/?p=7482"},"modified":"2025-01-20T12:17:31","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T11:17:31","slug":"nys-and-del-grosso-ambush-their-elders-in-belgian-and-dutch-national-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/01\/13\/nys-and-del-grosso-ambush-their-elders-in-belgian-and-dutch-national-championships\/","title":{"rendered":"Nys and del Grosso Ambush Their Elders in Belgian and Dutch National Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past weekend was a festival of national cyclo-cross championships with no fewer than 18 European nations, from Albania to Switzerland, alphabetically speaking, crowning their 2025 home champions. The most interest, quite naturally, was in the two countries that dominate men\u2019s cyclo-cross, Belgium and the Netherlands. And in both countries, it was youth that won out.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In Belgium, the 22-year-old European champion Thibau Nys rebounded from a stretch of five races in which he failed to finish higher than eighth to take a courageous victory in a slog through mud and snow in Heusden-Zolder. His late attack broke the resistance of Laurens Sweeck, who finished second, 9 seconds behind, and Toon Aerts, who finished 11 seconds adrift.<\/p>\n

The rest of the top 10 finishers sounds like a Who\u2019s Who of cyclo-cross stars, with Niels Vandeputte, Emiel Verstrynge, Joran Wyseure, and defending champion Eli Iserbyt finishing in places 4 to 7. It was a particularly disappointing race for Iserbyt who finished 1:15 behind the winner and is having a difficult year while struggling with a bad back. It was also a setback for the current cyclo-cross World Cup leader, Michael Vanthourenhout, who finished ninth at 1:41.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tested my legs early in the race and felt good,\u201d Nys said after the race. \u201cThen I really went for it when the rest were on the limit. That was the best strategy.” He went on to say that this victory combined with his European championship make up for the setbacks and disappointments he has endured this season.<\/p>\n

\"Thibau<\/a>
Nys in action during the elite men race of the Belgian Cyclocross Championships. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“My season is a real success now,\u201d Nys said. \u201cBut if you have the European and Belgian champion’s jerseys, of course, you want to have more wins as well, to make those jerseys shine even more.”<\/p>\n

His winning move came on a corner of lap 6 of the seven-lap 3.45 km course as he surprised Sweeck and Aerts while Vanthourenhout crashed on a dangerous descent. At the end of that lap, Nys led by 10 seconds over Sweeck, with Vandeputte at 14 seconds. The only thing that changed in that final lap was Aerts overtaking Vandeputte for the final podium spot.<\/p>\n

The Dutch national championship, which was also decided on Sunday, was won by another up-and-coming youngster, 21-year-old Tibor del Grosso, who stunned his elders, including 2023 champion Joris Nieuwenhuis (the race was not run last year) and four-time winner Lars van der Haar on the muddy Oisterwijk course, and took the U23 title at the same time.<\/p>\n

Riding at the front of the field with Nieuwenhuis and del Grosso, pre-race favourite Pim Ronhaar attacked on the penultimate lap and opened up what looked to be a decisive gap. Nieuwenhuis faded, but del Grosso began clawing back metres and was on his rival\u2019s wheel again at the beginning of the final lap. The reigning U23 world champion waited until the final 150 metres to launch his decisive attack for which Ronhaar had no answer. He finished 7 seconds behind the winner, with Nieuwenhuis at 31 seconds, and van der Haar in fourth, 48 seconds adrift.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThis course demanded everything, and I\u2019m thrilled to come out on top,\u201d del Grosso said after the race. It will be great fun to watch Nys and del Grosso grow into the champions they seem destined to become and develop what will doubtless be a thrilling rivalry that could dominate the sport for several years.<\/p>\n

In other notable national championship results, Felipe Orts dominated as expected in the Spanish race, held Sunday at As Pontes, winning by 1:25 over Jofre Cullell, with Marion Junquera finishing third, at 2:55. Favourites also won in Switzerland, where Kevin Kuhn beat Louis Rouiller by 43 seconds at Montreux, and in the Czech Republic, where the 32-year-old veteran Michael Boro\u0161 won out by 21 seconds over the 19-year-old future star V\u00e1clav Je\u017eek on Saturday in Ji\u010d\u00edn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past weekend was a festival of national cyclo-cross championships with no fewer than 18 European nations, from Albania to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":7563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-7482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-the-latest"],"yoast_head":"\nNys and del Grosso Win Cyclo-Cross Championships<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/01\/13\/nys-and-del-grosso-ambush-their-elders-in-belgian-and-dutch-national-championships\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nys and del Grosso Ambush Their Elders in Belgian and Dutch National Championships\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This past weekend was a festival of national cyclo-cross championships with no fewer than 18 European nations, from Albania to […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/01\/13\/nys-and-del-grosso-ambush-their-elders-in-belgian-and-dutch-national-championships\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling - United Kingdom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-13T11:10:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-20T11:17:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2025\/01\/Tibor-del-Grosso-profimedia-0953182742-CVR.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"990\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"660\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"hettie\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Siegfried Mortkowitz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/01\/13\/nys-and-del-grosso-ambush-their-elders-in-belgian-and-dutch-national-championships\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/01\/13\/nys-and-del-grosso-ambush-their-elders-in-belgian-and-dutch-national-championships\/\",\"name\":\"Nys and del Grosso Win Cyclo-Cross Championships\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/01\/13\/nys-and-del-grosso-ambush-their-elders-in-belgian-and-dutch-national-championships\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/01\/13\/nys-and-del-grosso-ambush-their-elders-in-belgian-and-dutch-national-championships\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2025\/01\/Tibor-del-Grosso-profimedia-0953182742-CVR.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-13T11:10:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-20T11:17:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/a58d0e261e2851d32c04ca4395fc8c19\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/01\/13\/nys-and-del-grosso-ambush-their-elders-in-belgian-and-dutch-national-championships\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/01\/13\/nys-and-del-grosso-ambush-their-elders-in-belgian-and-dutch-national-championships\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2025\/01\/Tibor-del-Grosso-profimedia-0953182742-CVR.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2025\/01\/Tibor-del-Grosso-profimedia-0953182742-CVR.webp\",\"width\":990,\"height\":660,\"caption\":\"Tibor del Grosso\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/\",\"name\":\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling - United Kingdom\",\"description\":\"\u0160koda WeLoveCycling - United Kingdom\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/a58d0e261e2851d32c04ca4395fc8c19\",\"name\":\"hettie\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/19084731f07a409b63389e027895fb3dd559baf357989497b89ac21b1807677a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/19084731f07a409b63389e027895fb3dd559baf357989497b89ac21b1807677a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"hettie\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/author\/hettie\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nys and del Grosso Win Cyclo-Cross Championships","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/01\/13\/nys-and-del-grosso-ambush-their-elders-in-belgian-and-dutch-national-championships\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nys and del Grosso Ambush Their Elders in Belgian and Dutch National Championships","og_description":"This past weekend was a festival of national cyclo-cross championships with no fewer than 18 European nations, from Albania to […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/01\/13\/nys-and-del-grosso-ambush-their-elders-in-belgian-and-dutch-national-championships\/","og_site_name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling - United Kingdom","article_published_time":"2025-01-13T11:10:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-01-20T11:17:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":990,"height":660,"url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2025\/01\/Tibor-del-Grosso-profimedia-0953182742-CVR.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"hettie","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Siegfried Mortkowitz","Est. reading time":"3"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/01\/13\/nys-and-del-grosso-ambush-their-elders-in-belgian-and-dutch-national-championships\/","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/01\/13\/nys-and-del-grosso-ambush-their-elders-in-belgian-and-dutch-national-championships\/","name":"Nys and del Grosso Win Cyclo-Cross Championships","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/01\/13\/nys-and-del-grosso-ambush-their-elders-in-belgian-and-dutch-national-championships\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/01\/13\/nys-and-del-grosso-ambush-their-elders-in-belgian-and-dutch-national-championships\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2025\/01\/Tibor-del-Grosso-profimedia-0953182742-CVR.webp","datePublished":"2025-01-13T11:10:48+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-20T11:17:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/a58d0e261e2851d32c04ca4395fc8c19"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/01\/13\/nys-and-del-grosso-ambush-their-elders-in-belgian-and-dutch-national-championships\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/01\/13\/nys-and-del-grosso-ambush-their-elders-in-belgian-and-dutch-national-championships\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2025\/01\/Tibor-del-Grosso-profimedia-0953182742-CVR.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2025\/01\/Tibor-del-Grosso-profimedia-0953182742-CVR.webp","width":990,"height":660,"caption":"Tibor del Grosso"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/","name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling - United Kingdom","description":"\u0160koda WeLoveCycling - United Kingdom","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/a58d0e261e2851d32c04ca4395fc8c19","name":"hettie","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/19084731f07a409b63389e027895fb3dd559baf357989497b89ac21b1807677a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/19084731f07a409b63389e027895fb3dd559baf357989497b89ac21b1807677a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"hettie"},"url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/author\/hettie\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7482"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7561,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7482\/revisions\/7561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7482"},{"taxonomy":"global-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/global-categories?post=7482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}