Gerben Kuypers overjoyed with CX Essen victory - "I am hugely satisfied, I didn't expect this at all"

Gerben Kuypers won the Exact Cross Essen. He beat favourite Jens Adams to take his sixth victory of the season.

"I am hugely satisfied, I didn't expect this at all," Kuypers said in the post-race interview. He continues, "It was a day as it should be. It was a stoempcross. That's what I do best. It was the first time this year that I was able to ride on such a course. This shows that there is a certain engine in me."

As a result of his quick start, Kuypers was able to establish himself at the head of the pack. "It wasn't really my intention to ride away so quickly. I did want to make a good start. Then you sit at ease for a few laps, but I rode away with Emiel Verstrynge. He then had a puncture, I think. Then it was another six laps of doing my own thing, riding as flawlessly as possible. Besides, on such a muddy course, it's only fighting against yourself anyway," explained Kuypers.

It is the Belgian's first victory in a television broadcast of a cyclocross race, and he is happy to introduce himself to fans.”I was lucky to be on the first row, which meant I was right along. If you're on the third row, you're usually a bit caught up in the drumming. I'm not the very best at that. I let myself do it and after one lap I'm already forty, fifty seconds behind. Then I still drive very good races, but it doesn't show up on television. It's nice that everyone knows me now, that's very important,” concluded Kuypers.