Van der Poel, Brand Win Again – and Nys Beats del Grosso in a Thriller Race

With van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) not participating in Sunday’s World Cup race at Dendermonde, Belgium, the favorites for the win looked to be Nys (Baloise Glowi Lions), del Grosso (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Wout van Aert. The Visma–Lease a Bike rider was still looking for his first win of the season after being beaten in a sprint by the 22-year-old del Grosso in the Superprestige race at Heusden-Zolder on December 23.

The Dendermonde course has always been known for its deep mud, which is the reason for its short, 2.6km laps. But there has been a dearth of rain in Belgium, so the ground was rock-hard, which made for an extremely fast race and one in which a large group of riders remained together at the front for most of its 12 laps. At the end of lap 10, nine riders were still together at the front, led by van Aert , who had taken the lead on lap 7 and upped the pace in an attempt to reduce the size of the group. In vain, and he tired himself in the process, dropping down to sixth at the start of lap 11, when World Cup series leader Laurens Sweeck surged to the front.

The Crelan-Corendon rider accelerated at the start of the final lap, but could not shake Nys and del Grosso. On the contrary, Nys passed him on a straight section and attacked, chased by del Grosso. The two future superstars raced together until, with about 150m left to ride, Nys attacked again and opened a small gap that he was able to keep to the finish line, registering an average speed of 30.7km/h for the final lap. Van der Poel’s disciple finished 2 seconds behind, with Sweeck 5 seconds adrift. Van Aert finished 6th, at 8 seconds.

“I’m super happy with the way I’m winning it today,” Nys said after the race. “It’s been a long time since I could finish it off like this. It was always my kind of skill to finish off a race like this in the last lap, doing the right things. But I started to lose a bit of this quality in the last couple of years, and it feels really, really nice to finish it off in this way… I felt super, super strong, and I felt in control. I think it was one of the strongest days of the season for me.”

Del Grosso registered his best ever Elite Men’s World Cup result, despite having a flat on lap 9 and losing significant time. But he was delighted with his performance. “I really hoped I could compete for the win, and it was a tricky race with how fast it was, but I had an unfortunate flat,” he said. “I was quite happy I could come back into the race for the win. You needed everything on the last lap and Thibau had more.”

Get used to seeing these two young riders dueling for the cyclocross spoils once van der Poel retires from the discipline, because they are the future of the sport.

Brand does it again

The young Elite Women riders will also have to wait to find glory until Brand (Baloise Glowi Lions) retires because she is as unbeatable as van der Poel at the moment. And she easily took to the fast conditions at Dendermonde, again attacking early, on the third of nine laps, leaving in her wake the improving Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) and one of the season’s big surprises, Amandine Fouquenet (Arkéa–B&B Hotels Woman). She led by 11 seconds at the end of the lap, by 17 seconds at the end of lap 5 and by 23 seconds after lap 8.

In the meantime, the Dutch champion and the French champion were having a ding-dong of a duel for second place, which Pieterse decided on the final lap by distancing her rival on the technical “power out” section, a short, steep climb leading to a sharp corner. Pieterse finished 11 seconds behind Brand, with a tired Foquenet crossing the line at 23 seconds.

“I was very surprised, because there was already a gap by the second time I passed the pit area,” Brand said after the finish. “That’s when I heard we had to keep going. Amandine was maintaining a good speed. But at one point, Puck closed in, so we had to pick up the pace to break her, and we succeeded.”

After securing her 11th win in a row, Brand talked about her ability to recover from tough races. “It’s especially amazing to see how your body holds up,” she said. “It’s tough to recover time and time again. But if you’re in good shape, it all becomes a few percentage points easier.”

Van der Poel, of course

Thibau Nys and Mathieu van der Poel of the Gavere UCI Cyclocross World Cup 2025-2026. © Profimedia

On Friday, Boxing Day, van der Poel and Brand were again the king and queen of the event as they dominated the seventh World Cup race of the season, in Gavere, Belgium. In both races, it first appeared that this season’s cyclocross royalty would have to battle to keep their crowns, but in the end they prevailed… of course.

In the Elite Men’s race, van der Poel was challenged by a very strong Thibau Nys, who looked ready to battle to the finish line, until he made a slight error when he hit a hole on lap 7 of 9 and his foot slipped off the pedal. That was a signal for the world champion to do what the world champion does, take off with an irresistible burst of speed. In a matter of a few pedal strokes, he had a lead of 12 seconds over Nys. Race over. In the end, the gap was 21 seconds, with van der Poel’s Alpecin-Deceuninck princeling del Grosso winning the sprint for third, at 23 seconds, just ahead of European champion Toon Aerts (Deschacht–Hens CX) and Emiel Verstrynge (Crelan-Corendon).

“I unclipped my pedal two times which cost me some momentum,” Nys said after the race, but he had no regrets. “Anyway, I don’t think I could have followed Mathieu.”

“It was quite a difficult race, but I just was trying and looking for the right lines and the good legs, and I found them toward the end of the race,” van der Poel said. “I was just sitting in the wheels a little bit the first half of the race. Thibau was really strong today and also technically, he was riding impressive. After we made the gap, I decided to go for one lap and set a fast pace and see if I could get away. I didn’t think it was possible to drop him, but I saw he made a mistake in the wheel and I had the gap.”

Brand solos again

In the Elite Women’s race, Shirin van Anrooij burst to the front of the race on the first of six laps and even opened a serious gap on lap 2, riding powerfully. But she crashed on an off-camber section, dropped her chain and the lead, as she had to walk the bike to the pit zone. She was never able to recover and finished 7th, 1:12 behind Brand, who waited until lap 3 to ride away from her closest rivals, Fouquenet, Pieterse and Célia Gery (AS Bike Racing–France Literie).

By the end of that lap she had a lead of 14 seconds and was never threatened again. The suspense concerned the battle for second between Pieterse and Fouquenet, a back-and-forth duel that saw the French champion dominate on the climbs but lose time to her rival on the technical sections. Strength prevailed at the end, as Fouquenet crossed the line 4 seconds ahead of Pieterse and 15 seconds behind Brand. That was the French champion’s third World Cup podium of the season and followed the first major cyclocross win of her career at the Heusden-Zolder Superprestige race on December 23.

It’s hard to believe that a rider as talented as the 24-year-old Fouquenet is still without a team for 2026, following the collapse of the Arkéa–B&B Hotels teams. “I still have nothing,” she said after the race when asked if she’d received any offers. She said her duel with Pieterse was “really tough” and went on to explain: “In the physical sections of the course, I’d say I was a little better than her, so I took advantage of that to try and make a difference, because I knew that in the technical sections, she was better and would catch up quite quickly. It was a great battle.”

Top 3 Elite Men – Dendermonde CX World Cup 2025