Van der Poel conquers the dunes
Van der Poel waited until the fourth of seven laps to make his break on one of the sand dunes of the fabled Koksijde course, riding away with teammates Tibor de Grosso and Niels Vandeputte after Toon Aerts got stuck in the sand, blocking Laurens Sweeck (Crelan–Corendon), aka “The Sandman” because of his skills in the sand. The world champion didn’t wait long to say goodbye to his teammates and had a lead of 20 seconds over them at the end of the lap, as Sweeck recovered admirably and was just 1 second behind them.
The lead was 27 seconds, over Sweeck and del Grosso, at the end of lap 5, with Vandeputte on their wheels, and stayed at that level, give or take a second or three, at the end of lap 6, as van der Poel gave a demonstration of how to ride a bike over a dune of loose sand. Sweeck lived up to his nickname by taking his second second place of the weekend, a mere 7 seconds adrift, as van der Poel had slowed considerably in the long finishing straight. Vandeputte finished third, at 23 seconds, while the 22-year-old del Grosso – a certain future superstar – had a minor mishap in the sand that kept him from fighting for the podium. He finished 23 seconds adrift.
This was van der Poel’s 14th cyclocross victory in a row, going back to January 2024 and the 27th of his last 28 cyclocross races. “It’s one of my favourite races,” he said afterwards. “So I really had fun today.” It was also a good race for Sweeck, who extended his World Cup series lead to 146 to 128 over Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen–Altez Industriebouw), who finished tenth on Sunday.
Brand solos in sand
On Sunday’s Elite Women’s race over the dunes, Brand waited until the second lap of five to break her rivals’ hearts, in this case fellow Baloise Glowi Lions rider Shirin van Anrooij and Aniek van Alphen (Sevens Racing). Her lead was 8 seconds after lap 2, with van Alphen already 28 seconds behind and just ahead of Ceylin del Alvarado and Puck Pieterse (both Fenix-Deceuninck). Though van Anrooij stayed close, the race was effectively over after the third lap, when the gap had ballooned to 22 seconds.
But there was lots of suspense in the battle for the third podium spot between Alvarado, Puck Pieterse, and van Alphen, with the treacherous sand and difficult uphills leading to multiple changes in the lead until Pieterse opened a gap on lap 4 and entered the final lap with a 6-second lead over her chasers. But she apparently tired out and was caught and passed by her two rivals. Third place then came down to a sprint on the long finish straight between van Alphen and Alvarado, with the latter easily beating her tired rival.
For Brand, it was her eighth win in a row, the tenth of the 12 races she’s started this season, and the 80th victory of her career. Van Anrooij finished second, at 36 seconds, with Alvarado 1:03 behind, 4 seconds ahead of van Alphen. “It’s one of my goals of the season, so I’m really happy that I could win the race here,” a delighted Brand said. “It’s an iconic race. I really love the races where it’s just the circumstances of the ground that make the race, and this is one of them. It’s like we say in road races, a Monument, so it’s great if you are on the list of winners there.”
As a result of the win, she took over the series lead from van Alphen and now looks like an overwhelming favourite to win her second World Championship in February, as Fem van Empel, who won the past three worlds, announced last week that she is putting her career on hold and leaving Visma–Lease a Bike.
“This is a well-considered decision that I feel good about,” van Empel said on the team’s website. “At the moment, both the motivation and the enjoyment I have had in cycling for years are missing. I wanted to be honest and fair about this with the team. For now, this is the best choice. It feels like the right time for a new chapter.”
Brand outduels Alvarado in Antwerp
The Antwerp course was too technical to be Lucinda Brand’s cup of tea, but that didn’t stop her from winning, though she was dogged every centimetre of the way by a resurgent Alvarado, who was superior to Brand in some of the technical sections of the course, but could not quite match her power.
Brand was never in the lead until the beginning of lap 4 of six, that is, until more than half the race had been run. That is also when she and Alvarado put distance between themselves and their former fellow travellers, van Alphen and Pieterse. They led them by 11 seconds at the end of that lap, with van Anrooij another second back. On lap 5, those three riders made contact with the two leaders again, but were able to ride with them for only a minute or so before Brand and Alvarado accelerated again and pulled away.
It was a thrilling nip-and-tuck duel between the two leaders the rest of the way, until Alvarado made a technical error on a corner and Brand pedalled away, opening a gap of 4 seconds. It appeared that the race was over, but then Brand got stuck in the sand not once, but twice, and Alvarado rode past her with less than half the lap remaining. The lead switched hands again, and Brand made an irresistible acceleration with 150 m left to ride to win by a scant 2 seconds.
“I had a few difficult weeks behind me,” said Alvarado. The former cyclocross world champion had to abandon the World Cup race at Terralba two weeks ago due to the flu. “Today, I was a bit stressed because I didn’t know how it would be. In the end, it was a very good day. “I [went] deep from the beginning to the end of the day. It was very tight racing. A bit technical, of course, because of the sand, but tactical as well. At the end, she [Brand] was, of course, the strongest.”
Van der Poel sharp, van Aert flat
The sandy course for Saturday’s Antwerp World Cup was also tailor-made for van der Poel, who won the race for the eighth time in 10 years. He took off in the middle of the first of eight laps, had a lead of 11 seconds over a chasing group at the end of the lap, increased his advantage to 25 seconds after lap 3 and 40 seconds after lap 5. He sustained a flat tyre on lap 7 and lost half his gap over his closest pursuer, Sweeck, to 24 seconds at the end of that lap. That was also the margin at the end of the race, with Emiel Verstrynge finishing third, at 33 seconds.
“It was a good race, but I don’t think I was the best in the sand today,” van der Poel said afterwards. “I made quite a few mistakes on the longer sections, but I felt already way better than last week,” said Van der Poel, who had to battle with Thibau Nys (Baloise Glowi Lions) before winning the Namur World Cup race last weekend.
Wout van Aert made his first cyclocross appearance of the season in the race and looked to be heading for a podium finish, but he suffered a flat front tyre as he was closing on Sweeck and ultimately finished seventh, at 51 seconds. But the Visma–Lease a Bike rider was not discouraged. “The sport is as hard as it always has been,” he said afterwards. “I suffered from the first minute. I was in the mix for the podium before a flat tyre ruined that result. Overall, a good feeling.”
Top 3 Elite Men – Koksijde CX World Cup 2025
1. Mathieu van der Poel, Alpecin-Deceuninck 56:36
2. Laurens Sweeck, Crelan-Corendon +0:07
3. Niels Vandeputte, Alpecin–Deceuninck +0:13
Top 3 Elite Women – Koksijde CX World Cup 2025
1. Lucinda Brand, Baloise Glowi Lions 48:08
2. Shirin van Anrooij, Baloise Glowi Lions +0:36
3. Ceylin del Alvarado, Fenix-Deceuninck +1:03
Top 3 Elite Men – Antwerp CX World Cup 2025
1. Mathieu van der Poel, Alpecin-Deceuninck 1:01:24
2. Laurens Sweeck, Crelan-Corendon +0:24
3. Emiel Verstrynge, Crelan-Corendon +0:33
Top 3 Elite Women – Antwerp CX World Cup 2025
1. Lucinda Brand, Baloise Glowi Lions 53:48
2. Ceylin del Alvarado, Fenix-Deceuninck +0:02
3. Aniek van Alphen, Seven Racing +0:16
