Brand and Vanthourenhout victorious at Tábor World Cup: Daily News Digest
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Hello again, CyclingTips readers,
The first World Cup of the Cyclocross season took place in the Czech Republic with two exciting elite races.
Read on for more …
Abby Mickey
Associate Editor
What’s News
| Lucinda Brand wins Tábor World Cup
Lucinda Brand won the elite women’s race in Tábor after a successful mid-race move. The World Champion Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado finished second behind Brand, and Denise Betsema rounded out the podium in third.
The 3,200-meter long course in Tábor favored a powerful rider, with long stretches and less technicality than X2O Trophy Kortrijk a day previously.
Maghalie Rochette led out the sprint from the start, but an aggressive move into the first corner by a 777 rider caused a large crash before the race hit the dirt.
Denise Betsema led a splintering race through on the first lap, followed by Alvarado, Annamarie Worst, Brand, Betsema, and Blanka Kata Vas. The same group crossed the line together again after the second lap with Yara Kastelijn and Puck Pieterse. Behind them, a chasing group of seven worked to make their way to the front.
Lucinda Brand put the hammer down as the third lap began and through a technical section shook loose the rest of the lead group. Alvarado led the group behind, but more space began to show between riders as the World Champion chased down Brand.
Alvarado managed to catch Brand on the stairs, but they did not stay together for long and Brand continued to shake Alvarado loose throughout the rest of the lap. Into the fourth lap of the race Brand led Alvarado by only two seconds, with Betsema, Worst, and Vas 19 seconds behind Brand.
Alvarado continued to lose seconds to Brand throughout the fourth lap and by the time she had cleared the start-finish, she was 12 seconds behind the leader. The three chasers of Betsema, Worst, and Vas had also lost time to Brand and were looking at a 32-second chase to the lead. The situation was almost unchanged as the final lap began with Brand leading by 22 seconds over Alvarado, and Worst and Betsema 20 seconds from Alvarado. Vas was just behind her two-chasing mates after a tumble a few hundred meters from the start-finish straight.
After a very strong ride, Brand was able to hold on to first place, Alvarado crossed the line 24 seconds later to take second place, and Betsema bested Vas in the sprint for third place, 8 seconds behind Alvarado.
1. BRAND Lucinda (Telenet Baloise Lions) 53:43
2. ALVARADO Ceylin del Carmen (Alpecin – Fenix) +0:24
3. BETSEMA Denise (Pauwels Sauzen – Bingoal) +0:32
4. VAS Blanka Kata (Doltcini – Van Eyck – Proximus Continental Team) +0:32
5. WORST Annemarie (777) +0:50
| Vanthourenhout wins Tábor World Cup
It was an exciting race between teammates in the final half of the Tábor World Cup, with Michael Vanthourenhout taking the victory and the European Champion Eli Iserbyt taking second. Behind the two, Wout van Aert rounded out the podium.
Quinten Hermans led the race through the first corner after a fast start. Once the dirt came into play, Laurens Sweeck set the pace, but no gaps emerged until the first passage of the start-finish when ten riders crossed with a slight advantage, led by Vanthourenhout.
Into the third lap, the lead group remained the same with the exception of Sweeck who went down on some barriers. Later in the third lap came the first real move by Vanthourenhout, van Aert followed close behind. The move was unsuccessful and the race for victory was still between the eight riders leading the race.
Vanthourenhout tried to get away again on the fourth lap and was able to get a three-second lead over the rest of the leading group. At first, Daan Soete led the chase to bring back the Pauwels Sauzen – Bingoal rider, but with four laps to Van Aert moved to the front of the group. With two laps to go Vanthourenhour had increased his lead to 15 seconds.
The next move came from Vanthourenhout’s teammate, Iserbyt. The European Champion almost immediately got a gap from the rest of the chasers and was visibly making up ground on the lone leader. With two laps to go Vanthourenhout was not letting up on the pace with Iserbyt only 3 seconds behind.
The catch was made in the 7th lap, as the race for third also heated up between Van Aert and Toon Aerts 14 seconds behind the leading two riders.
In a technical section on the final lap, Iserbyt slipped, opening the door for Vanthourenhout to once again make a solo attempt at the win, at least for a second. On the same section, Van Aert swung from low to the high line, grazing Aerts front wheel. Aerts tumbled slightly and in doing so was distanced from Van Aert.
Vanthourenhout closed every corner on Iserbyt, holding on to the lead position through the barriers and some technical turns. He was able to get a small gap over his teammate after a flutter of accelerations and as Van Aert got closer and closer to the two.
Vanthourenhout won by only 5 seconds over Iserbyt with Van Aert 12 seconds behind the leader.
1. VANTHOURENHOUT Michael (Pauwels Sauzen – Bingoal) 1:02:43
2. ISERBYT Eli (Pauwels Sauzen – Bingoal) +0:05
3. Wout van Aert (Jumbo – Vimsa) +0:12
4. AERTS Toon (Telenet Baloise Lions) +0:18
5. VAN DER HAAR Lars (Telenet Baloise Lions) +0:21
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Today’s featured image of Michael Vanthourenhout racing Urban Cross Kortrijk was taken by Kristof Ramon on November 28, 2020.
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