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The sand dunes of Koksijde await Rochette, Vos and van der Poel

FIfth round of World Cup visits one of the most taxing 'cross courses

Maghalie Rochette

Round five of the UCI Cyclocross World Cup runs Sunday in Koksijde, Belgium, the first event of the 2018-2019 series in the Lowlands, and one that marks the midway point of the season. Last week Lucinda Brand took her first career World Cup win and Mathieu van der Poel took his second event in a row in Tabor, Czech Republic on a loop with a tricky corner. Canadian champ Maghalie Rochette was the sole representative of her country and took 13th.

Rochette will again be the lone Canadian in Koksijde to take on the famous sand dunes of the course. Last season at Koksijde van der Poel scrapped his way through the sand to grab the win in the elite men’s race and Maud Kaptheijns took her first World Cup triumph on the women’s side.

In the elite men’s individual standings, the winner of the first two events, Toon Aerts, still has the lead over Wout van Aert. Van der Poel, who missed the first two races in North America, still has a lot of ground to make up.

Marianne Vos managed to keep her lead in the elite women’s competition last week, even though she rested the Tabor race. The Dutch legend took the Waterloo and Bern, Switzerland rounds.

World champion and reigning World Cup title holder Sanne Cant will be hoping for a longer race this week. She was critical of the number of laps in some elite women’s races after the DVV Trofee Flanderiencross race in Hamme, Belgium last Sunday. The winner, Annemarie Worst (Steylaerts-777) won in 39:06. UCI’s regulations call for race winner times in elite women’s races to fall between 40 and 50 minutes, and Cant finds too many contests barely clear the 40 minute mark. Last week in Tabor, van der Poel won in 1:02:43 over nine laps, while Brand rounded five laps in 40:10.