{"id":204321,"date":"2025-12-08T12:00:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T12:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=204321"},"modified":"2025-12-08T12:08:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T12:08:29","slug":"vanthourenhout-and-brand-of-course-win-world-cup-races-on-sardinia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2025\/12\/08\/vanthourenhout-and-brand-of-course-win-world-cup-races-on-sardinia\/","title":{"rendered":"Vanthourenhout and Brand (of Course!) Win World Cup Races on Sardinia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen\u2013Altez Industriebouw) and (who else?) Lucinda Brand (Baloise Glowi Lions) won their respective UCI Cyclocross World Cup races on Sunday on a flat course in Torralba on the Italian island of Sardinia. The 31-year-old Belgian was strongest in crunch time at the end of a thrilling three-rider battle, while Brand did it her usual way, overpowering her rivals with a long, irresistible solo ride.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A battle down to the wire<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On a rain-drenched but fast course, with puddles that were probably deeper than the elevation gained, a lead group of 11 riders eventually formed. Vanthourenhout and Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ridley Racing) spent most of the first six of nine stages exchanging the lead position in the group, and it long appeared that they would take their duel all the way to the finish. But eventually Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Corendon) and then Pim Ronhaar (Baloise Glowi Lions) joined the skirmish for the front, which turned muscular when Ronhaar jostled Sweeck while passing him on a corner on lap 8, and Sweeck responded with an elbow that\u00a0 caused him to lose his balance and drop down to sixth.<\/p>\n

At the end of that penultimate lap, there were still eight riders within 6 seconds of each other as the battle for the lead became serious and Vanthourenhout, Nieuwenhuis, Sweeck and Ronhaar disputed the win among themselves. With about 500 meters left to ride, tragedy struck Ronhaar as he suffered a flat on a bike he had just swapped for. He would finish a disconsolate 10th. After some serious back-and-forth, Vanthourenhout attacked in a sand pit and soon had a decent gap, which he was able to maintain all the way to the line. Nieuwenhuis and Sweeck came in second and third, 1 second behind the winner.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt good to be fighting for the win again,\u201d Vanthourenhout said after his first World Cup win of the season. \u201cI felt very strong today, but it was difficult to make a gap.\u201d It was his first win since October and follows a string of five races in which the 2024-25 World Cup champion missed out on the podium. \u201cIn the final lap I was lucky that I could move up on the inside,\u201d he explained. \u201cHopefully that slightly weaker period is now behind me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was quite a hard race in the end because I had a good feeling that me and Michael [Vanthourenhout] were the best in the race at the start,\u201d Nieuwenhuis said. \u201cWe tried to get away, but it was quite hard. I tried to defend my position all the time and hoped to do something in the last lap. I think Michael got a bit better of a line and [had] a bit better legs. He just got the better of me in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

The World Cup leader Thibau Nys (Baloise Glowi Lions), who won the first two races of the series, in-form Cameron Mason (Seven Racing) and European champion Toon Aerts were among the riders who skipped the race, which was one reason 11 riders competed with hope until the final lap. Nys still leads the series with 80 points, to 76 for Sweeck and 75 for Nieuwenhuis.<\/p>\n

Brand is still irresistible<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Will Lucinda Brand<\/a> lose another race this year? That\u2019s the question I had after watching her yet again demolish a field of her rivals in Sunday\u2019s Elite Women\u2019s race. She has now won five races in succession and nine of 11 races this season; and she has now finished on the podium for the 52nd time in a row. The only rider who could challenge her dominance, Fem van Empel (Visma\u2013Lease a Bike), is still out with an unspecified illness and no date for her return has been announced.<\/p>\n

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A post shared by UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup (@ucicyclocrossworldcup)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n