Wyn Masters goes full … cyclocross in Zonhoven
Downhill racer gets Mathieu van der Poel to show him lines through the sand in Belgium
There’s been a trend of downhill racers showing up at enduro races lately, but cyclocross?
Wyn Masters surely turned some heads in Belgium when he lined up for the Superprestige race in Zonhoven. The Kiwi downhill and enduro racer might have been a bit out of his element on the drop bars, but he did have one advantage. Cyclocrosser turned cross country mountain biker Mathieu van der Poel took the time to show Masters how to ride Zonhoven’s steep, sandy embankments.
Masters lasted an impressive three laps against the worlds best before getting pulled. Considering a long downhill or enduro stage tops out around 10 minutes, other than Whistlers notorious Top of the World stage, the hour long race requires a totally different effort. Before getting pulled, Masters, known for his #wheelieWesnesday posts on Instagram, quickly won over the Belgian crowd with one wheeled riding.
Surely Masters Belgian adventures will end up as an episode of WynTv. Maybe Masters will even return the favour and show van der Poel some lines if the Dutch rider decides to start a World Cup downhill next season?
As for how Masters ended up in Belgium, that likely has something to do with his GT Factory racing teammate Martin Maes. The Belgian defied his country’s flat-land geography to win Whistler’s round of the Enduro World Series and World Cup downhill finals in La Bresse, France back to back this season. Maes is the first, and only rider to have accomplished that feat in the same season, never mind in consecutive race seasons.
While he was in Belgium, Wyn Masters also traded in the skinny tires for some motorized fun. The GT racer stopped by Lommel in Belgium for the moto race held there. Back to back moto and Superprestige level cyclocross racing may be the hardest, and most fun week of off-season training I’ve heard of in a while.
