Michael Vanthourenhout revalidates Cyclocross European title; Mason and van der Haar take podium

Michael Vanthourenhout has won the Cyclocross European Championships' men's elite race. It was a race heavily affected by the rain and mud, and the defending champion put in a staggering ride to keep his jersey for one more year.

The race started off quite compact as the riders did not want to put on a risky early move. For a few minutes the front of the pack remained relatively calm, Michael Vanthourenhout was the first to make a move and the Belgians did not put in an immediate chase. Although team tactics are not frequent in a race like this, the gap grew to around 20 seconds relatively quickly and this proved to be absolutely key to the race.

Vanthourenhout moved off the front and it took some time before Cameron Mason attacked behind, with enough power for the group to split. Eli Iserbyt and Pim Ronhaar followed behind. Lars van der Haar chased on then behind the duo but quickly bridged across gaps.

Van der Haar was the closest chaser to Vanthourenhout but then suffered a crash which saw the gap extend quite a bit again. He crashed a few laps later once again taking him out of the possibility of winning the race, and making his task to race for a podium difficult. The very slippery conditions made it a brutal race, the likes of Thibau Nys and Laurens Sweeck were nowhere near the front whilst Iserbyt could not sustain the rhythm of the best.

Consistent and without crashing, Michael Vanthourenhout remained in front and although he wasn't one of the main favourites coming in, he took a very strong win and revalidated his European Champion title. He was followed by two riders who perhaps have done career-best results in Cameron Mason who thrived in the mud, and Lars van der Haar sprinted to third in the finishing straight beating his teammate Pim Ronhaar.