Van Aert, who was an impressive winner in the previous World Cup race in Dendermonde, probably paid for his slow start, which saw him sitting in 24th place midway through lap 1 and forced him to gradually work his way to the front to be able to fight for the victory. But when the time came to snatch the win, he had no reserves to call on and finished fourth, 6 seconds behind the winner.
“I didn’t feel very fresh,” van Aert told Wielerflits after the race. “It also took a long time to get into the leading group after a bad start. Then I already felt that it wasn’t my day. In the last laps I had to gamble on an acceleration, but Thibau was faster in the last lap… It was a super fast race and I didn’t really feel great. I never really got into the race.”
Van Aert also seemed to be riding cautiously, losing time by dismounting to carry the bike over the planks rather than riding over them. It took him more than five laps to reach the large lead group and he made his first attacking move on lap 7, when he chased down Nys’s teammate Lars van der Haar and Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen–Cibel Clementines) and appeared to be on his way to another impressive win. But the attack fizzled and he never threatened again. Van Aert won last year’s World Cup Benidorm, with Nys finishing third.
As for this year, Nys was a fairly unobtrusive member of the leading group of riders from the start, making an appearance at the front only at the end of lap 4 before letting others dispute the lead. Those riders included van der Haar, Iserbyt and his Pauwels teammate Michael Vanthourenhout, Emiel Verstrynge (Crelan-Corendon) and the Spanish champion and home favorite Felipe Orts (Ridley Racing). But they could not respond when Nys attacked on the final lap and gradually pulled away. Iserbyt finished second, 3 seconds adrift, with van der Haar completing the podium, at 4 seconds.
“Everything is falling together in the right pieces,” said Nys, who was crowned Belgian champion last weekend. “It was wonderful, [I had] the right legs at the right moment. I think Wout missed his start completely because he had to start quite far back. The pace never really dropped completely in the front group, so that made it really hard for him to come back and I think we really profited from that in the final.”
He went on to say that it was no coincidence that he won again at Benidorm. “Everyone knows you need to go up the last climb at full gas. It’s an effort that suits me really [well], and when I’m in the right place on a course like this then, yes, I can finish it off.”
He now sits fifth in the Cyclocross World Cup standings, with 152 points, well behind the leader, Vanthourenhout, who finished fifth in Benidorm and, with only two races remaining, looks likely to be the crowned overall World Cup champion. His closest rival is two-time World Cup champion Toon Aerts, with 198 points. He finished 14th on Sunday and just about lost all hope of winning the title for a third time.
World Cup Benidorm Results
- Thibau Nys, Baloise Glowi Lions 56:31
- Eli Iserbyt, Pauwels Sauzen–Cibel Clementines +0:03
- Lars van der Haar, Baloise Glowi Lions 0:04
- Wout van Aert, Visma–Lease a Bike 0:06
- Michael Vanthourenhout, Pauwels Sauzen–Cibel Clementines 0:10
- Felipe Orts Lloret, Ridley Racing 0:12
- Niels Vandeputte, Alpecin-Deceuninck 0:15
- Joris Nieuwenhuis, Ridley Racing 0:18
- Emiel Verstringe, Crelan-Corendon 0:23
- Joshua Dubau (no team) 0:25
World Cup Standings (after 8 of 11 races)
- Michael Vanthourenhout 231 points
- Toon Aerts 198
- Eli Iserbyt 169
- Joran Wyseure 162
- Thibau Nys152
- Niels Vandeputte 147
- Lars van der Haar 147
- Pim Ronhaar 146
- Felipe Orts Lloret 144
- Emiel Verstrynge 135