CX weekend roundup: Rochette podiums, Winter Wouterland
UCI World Cyclocross resumed on Sunday, following the Antwerp leg cancellation due to COVID-19 concerns in Belgium. Canada’s Maghalie Rochette had another superb ride, placing second, and Belgium’s Wout van Aert crushed his competition.
Women’s race
Maghalie Rochette earned her second consecutive podium on an extremely difficult, snowy-covered course, while fellow Canadian Sidney McGill was 12th in Val di Sole, Italy. Dutch rider Fem Van Empel impressed with her first World Cup victory, leading for the entire race.
Marianne Vos was back racing after a couple of months off. World Cup leader Lucinda Brand and Annemarie Worst skipped this round. Fem van Empel took the hole shot and seized the early lead on Lap 1 with Rochette second, Vos third and van Empel’s teammate Denise Betsema fourth and a considerable gap back to Puck Pieterse. Rochette shuffled down the pack and was soon just in front on Pieterse. Sidney McGill was an impressive 13th.
Maghalie Rochette and Raphaël Lemieux have a “girl’s night out”
Going into Lap 3 of five, the gap to van Empel was 20 seconds and Rochette was only five seconds in arrears of Betsema. Lechner, in her brilliant pink kit, separated herself from Clauzel in chasing Rochette. McGill was up to 12th.
Van Empel went into the penultimate lap with a 27-second gap. Rochette had Betsema always in her sights. The Canadian used a run-up to pass Betsema. Rochette started to reel in van Empel, while Vos started to pull back Lechner and Betsema.
When she heard the bell Rochette was only 9-seconds back. But Vos was coming hard as well, passing Lechner and Betsema before taking over second place from Rochette.
Van Empel kept her head but Vos was still yanking her compatriot closer. When Vos went to pass her inside 150-metres, Vos got tangled in the side netting and got in van Empel’s way. Van Empel came out of the mess and accelerated away from Vos for the triumph.
2021-2022 UCI World Cup, Round 10, Val di Sole, Italy
1) Fem Van Empel (The Netherlands/Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal)
2) Marianne Vos (The Netherlands/Jumbo-Visma)
3) Maghalie Rochette (Canada) +0:11
12) Sidney McGill (Canada) +4:01
Men’s race
Wout Van Aert has won all three races in his return to cyclocross, but Sunday’s triumph in the World Cup snow round of Val di Sole, Italy is the biggest. The Belgian champion was the fastest in the white stuff, adding a World Cup victory to a Superprestige win and Ethias Cross win over the last week. Tom Pidcock, also racing his first World Cup of the season, placed third.
Michael Vanthourenhout came out of the blocks with a head full of steam, leading Lap 1 with World Cup leader Eli Iserbyt in Position Two and Van Aert third. Before the long run-up, Van Aert overtook Iserbyt. Tom Pidcock had to make his way up the string. Vanthourenhout and van Aert crossed the line together, with Iserbyt just behind and teammates Corne van Kessel and Quinten Hermans further back.
Van Aert got hung up in the side netting at the beginning of Lap 3, allowing Vanthourenhout to close in. However, van Aert finished the circuit with an even bigger gap than the previous lap.
On Lap 4 Pidcock started to threaten Iserbyt’s podium spot. Van Aert continued to add seconds to his gap. A mistake in a snow trough saw Pidcock overtake Iserbyt. Van Aert’s 8:15 lap was the fastest of the race so far. Vanthourenhout was 28 seconds back.
Vanthourenhout wasn’t going to submit to Pidcock easily. He kept pushing on Lap 5. With an icicle on his nose, van Aert carried on in the lead, 37 seconds clear of Vanthourenhout.
When he heard the bell, van Aert was ahead by 41 seconds. It looked like a couple of errors had taken Iserbyt out of podium contention, but he started to reel in Pidcock before another crash disrupted his efforts. The Brit stayed away to stand on the third step.
2021-2022 UCI World Cup, Round 10, Val di Sole, Italy
1) Wout van Aert (Belgium/Jumbo-Visma) 59:27
2) Michael Vanthourenhout (Belgium/Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) +0:49
3) Tom Pidcock (Great Britain/Ineos Grenadiers) +1:28
