“I have a little pain in my wrist, it was a super stupid action" - Wout van Aert survives late crash to take victory in Benidorm

Wout van Aert tasted victory for a third time this winter at the latest round of UCI World Cup action in Benidorm on Sunday, despite a late crash that left him saddleless and bruised.

“I have a little pain in my wrist, it was a super stupid action," admitted the Belgian somewhat regretfully in his post-race interview. "I thought I was far enough ahead so I didn't take any more risks by jumping near the beams. But then I wanted to do it so quickly while running that I still made a mistake. It was an absolute blunder, but I got away with it. A few hundred meters without a saddle was just possible. I think I jumped against my saddle due to the bumpy surface, causing my bike to hit the ground. This is how it must have been broken down.”

Van Aert wasn't the only rider in difficulty today either. Notably, his old rival Mathieu van der Poel also suffered some bad luck before eventually finishing 5th as the world champion's cyclocross winning streak came to a conclusion.

"Of course Mathieu was also very strong and he also had a lot of bad luck. Too bad it wasn't a dual," van Aert says of his rival. "But when Mathieu fell, I still had to beat the others. That wasn't easy, so I'm glad it worked. It's always a nice feeling to win, but I also wanted to feel good legs today and that was certainly the case. It was a very beautiful day for me.”

And finally, despite his victory, van Aert has no plans to extend his cyclocross campaign in order to battle for the World Championships in Tabor. “I think it was an exciting cross today, so we will see an interesting World Championship,” he concludes.