Sunday, December 17, 2023 at 7:54 PM
Belgium is the cross country par excellence, but there was little evidence of that this weekend. In fact, in the races of Herentals (X2O Bathrooms Trophy) and Namur (World Cup), not a single Belgian finished on the podium among the elite men. And that’s the first time in a long time.
In Herentals, world champion Mathieu van der Poel immediately gave cycling lessons to the competition on his cross-country return, Tom Pidcock immediately finished second on his return and Dutch champion Lars van der Haar came third. The first Belgian, Eli Iserbyt, finished in fourth place. It is the first time in the history of the X2O Trophy that no Belgian was allowed to take a seat on the podium.
And a day later we saw the same picture in the Namur World Cup. After an interesting battle, winner Tom Pidcock managed to beat the Dutchman Pim Ronhaar, who crossed the line in second. Joris Nieuwenhuis, another Dutchman, crossed the finish line third. Then we had to wait for the first Belgian to arrive and this turned out to be Iserbyt again, in fourth place.
❌ 🇧🇪 No rider from Belgium on the podium this weekend. Not in the X2O Herentals and not in UCI World Cup in Namur.
Last time in the UCI World Cup:
– 🇧🇪 Heusden-Zolder 2013 (vd Haar, Bina, Stybar)Last time in the X2O Trofee:
– First time ever. pic.twitter.com/oGqPhFJx3O— Cyclocross24.com (@cyclocross24) December 17, 2023
A striking fact, especially because it is the first time in ten years that we have seen a completely non-Belgian podium in the World Cup. In the World Cup round of Heusden-Zolder in 2013, the podium was occupied by Lars van der Haar and the Czechs Martin Bina and Zdenek Stybar.
2023-12-17 18:54:00
#Strange #true #single #Belgian #podium #cyclocross #races #Herentals #Namur
