“This is unbelievable for me” – Felipe Orts turns Benidorm homecoming into fairytale World Cup podium

Mathieu van der Poel decided the World Cup in Benidorm almost before it had begun. But the race did not belong to him alone. For Felipe Orts, it became the day his local World Cup finally turned into something permanent.

“This is unbelievable for me,” Orts said in his immediate post-race interview afterwards.

He had lined up already carrying that idea with him. His helmet showed his hometown, Villajoyosa, a short distance down the coast from Benidorm.

“You see my hometown here, Villajoyosa,” he said. “That place is always in my head. I want everyone to know my hometown.”

While Van der Poel rode away at the front, the race behind him never settled. Riders attacked, stalled, regrouped, and hesitated. Orts refused to let that chaos decide his day. “I attacked at the right moment,” he said. “I could open a small gap, after which Thibau came to me. He rode very hard. We could work together, but in the last laps I was completely on the limit.”

That decision split the race for the podium. Instead of being one of many waiting for someone else to move, Orts suddenly had a clear role. Work when he could. Survive when he had to. Hold the gap.

When Thibau Nys finally rode away on the last lap, Orts’ race changed again. It was no longer about gaining a place, only about defending one. “Thibau was second, I was third. I am very happy with my race, with the public and my podium place.”

What followed at the finish explained why the result mattered so much. “I am very happy,” Orts said. “There were so many people supporting me. To stand on the podium here, at home, is absolutely crazy. I am very happy.”

Benidorm is not Villajoyosa, but it is close enough for the crowds to feel familiar and the noise to feel personal. On a day dominated by the world champion, Orts still found his own way to make the race unforgettable, not by beating the biggest name in cyclocross, but by turning a World Cup podium into a homecoming.