Lucinda Brand, Laurens Sweeck fastest at X2O Trofee Flandriencross
Brand makes it 17 season wins, Pidcock derailed by final-lap crash in last weekend of racing before the Fayetteville worlds.
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Anyone looking to place a bet on the Fayetteville cyclocross world championships should keep an eye on this weekend’s ‘cross racing.
Saturday’s X2O Trofee Flandriencross and Sunday’s World Cup round in Hoogerheide make for the last races before the European peloton jets over to Arkansas to race for the rainbow bands next weekend.
Lucinda Brand (Trek Baloise Lions) scored her 17th win of the season at the X2O race Saturday as she continues to crush this winter’s ‘cross scene. The defending world champ looked typically unstoppable with her solo win, and the rainbow jersey is undoubtedly hers to lose next weekend.
Brand’s 19-year-old teammate Shirin van Anrooij won a tense battle with Denise Betsema (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) to take second-place.
Top favorites for the men’s worlds Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) and Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) were part of a four-way fight in their race, which Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal rider Laurens Sweeck won from a muscling final sprint.
Pidcock had been pushing hard in the final lap when a crash on a muddy corner took him out of contention.
🥇 @lucinda_brand was de snelste in de Rectavit Flandriencross in Hamme! De Nederlandse wereldkampioene kwam solo over de streep. Bekijk hier haar laatste meters richting de finish.#X2OBadkamersTrofee #SoudalLadiesTrophy #RectavitFlandriencross #Hamme #veldrijden #cyclocross pic.twitter.com/HwdwyaHKdn
— X²O Badkamers Trofee (@X2OTrofee) January 22, 2022
Brand squeezed away from the pack on lap 3 of the women’s race after spending the opening laps dueling with season-long challenger Betsema.
Betsema led the chase behind the charging world champ, but there was no stopping Brand as she blitzed to yet another victory and maintain her lead in the X2O series.
Van Anrooij pulled clear of the rest of the chasers behind Brand and Betsema on lap 4, latched onto Betsema’s wheel soon after, and then kicked past. Betsema clawed back to her young rival on the final circuit only for van Anrooij to outkick her elder in the final 100 meters to score second-place.
Neither cross-discipline dynamo Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) nor Clara Honsinger (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld) were racing.
The men’s race rolled out soon after the women were done.
Aerts took the holeshot and motored away from the group on lap 2. Teammates Iserbyt and Sweeck led the chase group a dozen seconds behind, while Pidock slowly worked through the traffic after a slow start off the grid.
Pidcock bridged to the Pauwels Sauzen pair mid-race and set off in pursuit of a fast-fading Aerts, while Iserbyt began to tail off.
The front of the race came together on lap 6 of 9. Pidcock began pressuring Aerts and Sweeck only to lose contact as he seemed to struggle with a bike issue. He dropped back to Iserbyt after a swift bike change and the young pair came to the front with Sweeck and Aerts in the penultimate round.
Pidcock began to pile on the pace in the lead quartet at the start of the last lap only to slide out on a greasy corner and lose touch with the bunch. Sweeck and Aerts pulled away in the back-half of the circuit before Sweeck bettered the Trek Baloise rider with a strong sprint.
Wat een spannend slot! 😮 @LaurensSweeck wint met een wiellengte voorsprong de Rectavit Flandriencross bij de mannen. @ToAerts eindigde nipt tweede.#X2OBadkamersTrofee #RectavitFlandriencross #Hamme #veldrijden #cyclocross pic.twitter.com/b0vi5jzWN0
— X²O Badkamers Trofee (@X2OTrofee) January 22, 2022
Aerts maintains his strong lead over Iserbyt in the X20 classification with his second place finish, while Pidcock crossed the line fifth behind Iserbyt and Lars van der Haar (Trek Baloise Lions).
Racing resumes in Hoogerheide on Sunday. From there, all flights lead to Fayetteville.