Bunny-hopping Lucinda Brand ends CX season with a win before Niels Vandeputte takes dominant men's victory at Waaslandcross Sint-Niklaas

Lucinda Brand and Niels Vandeputte have taken the win at Waaslandcross Sint-Niklaas, emerging victorious in their respective Exact Cross outings this Saturday afternoon in Belgium.

Brand might be viewed as one of the elder stateswomen of cyclocross, aged 35, but the Dutchwoman proved she is still more than young enough to learn new tricks in Sint-Niklaas, hopping the barriers repeatedly throughout the race, something Brand has never really done before in her illustrious career. It proved very beneficial too as the World Championship runner-up fought of competition from the likes of Crelan - Corendon duo Sara Casasola and Inge van der Heijden to emerge victorious in her final outing of this winter.

In the men's race, it was all about one man. Alpecin-Deceuninck's, Niels Vandeputte, who attacked clear early and was already over 30 seconds clear of the chasing pack after just three laps of racing. In a performance reminiscent of his all-conquering teammate Mathieu van der Poel, Vandeputte was an absolutely dominant winner.

In the end, the battle for the rest of the podium places was much more exciting. Ultimately though, second place went to Lars van der Haar, with former European champion Michael Vanthourenhout securing third spot.