Wonderful Wout van Aert returns to winning ways at Superprestige Gullegem Cross after thrilling battle with Eli Iserbyt
Cyclocross
Wout van Aert is back! Back to his best and back to winning ways, having taken victory at Superprestige Gullegem Cross this Saturday afternoon following a thrilling battle with Belgian national champion Eli Iserbyt.
Although Wout van Aert wasn't on the front row at the start, all eyes were on the Visma star as the racing got underway. The Belgian got off to a solid start as well, but it was Michael Vanthourenhout in the lead at the end of the first lap, controlling from the front and setting a fast, but controlled pace to string things out behind.
The in-form Laurens Sweeck was also still very much in the mix and began to show himself at the front for the first time on 3, with Vanthourenhout and Van Aert quickly on the Crelan - Corendon leader's back wheel, sensing the potential danger. In truth though, any killer moves were still yet to take place with things relatively tightly packed at the front at the end of lap 3.
For the first time on lap 4 though, Van Aert made his presence known at the front of the race and immediately things exploded behind. By the end of the lap, only Vanthourenhout had been able to keep the wheel of Van Aert, 10 seconds clear of the next rider on course, Joran Wyseure. With Van Aert making a couple of small errors on lap 5 though, both Wyseure and Eli Iserbyt were soon back in contact, making a four-man group at the front.
Iserbyt was the next man to make a move too, attacking on lap 6 and getting a small gap ahead of his rivals, although Van Aert was leading the charge of the chase. As the two Belgians began to break free of Vanthourenhout and Wyseure, the fight for victory started to look like a two-horse race at the front. Despite Van Aert's best efforts though, he was struggling to fully distance the gritty and determined Iserbyt.
On the final lap, Iserbyt and Van Aert traded the front of the race in a thrilling battle. As Iserbyt suffered a couple of technical issues though, Van Aert began to get a gap and as it turned out that proved decisive and it was the three-time world champion who prevailed.
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- He tested positive. His team doctor got banned. They trafficked in steroids. But if you ignore those things and the complete rise from nowhere and then return to pub race levels. Then sure.Sweep06-01-2025
- "training, nutrition and aerodynamics" ??? In four years? Uh, nope. Not one iota. This is what dopers have always said to explain their rise from nobodies to complete dominance. Every single time.Sweep06-01-2025
- Froome was certainly the Grand Tour rider of his generation, and one of the all-time greats. Cycling was lucky to have him, with his quiet, humble, and workman-like approach to competition. It was a shame his reign ended so brutally and suddenly. The sport is fortunate once more that such a wealth of generational talent has come along to replace him, with MVDP, Van Aert, Roglic, Vingegaard, and Pogacar. It's especially cool to see the gracious exuberance of Pogacar in such contrast to Froome's reserve, or Armstrong's grim competitiveness.
MarkFour06-01-2025 - it is cringeworthy to read XC when you are referring to cyclocross, which I think you are as Wout does not do XC. CX = cyclocross. XC = cross country mountain biking. and so you have the rest: XCO = cross country olympic race. XCM = cross country marathon. XCC = cross country short track.mij06-01-2025
- I see your point BTW, as I said, maybe go for green one year or something. his long winded response is typical - pointless, self promoting, and needlessly wordy LOL. oh and he is smarter than all.mij06-01-2025
- His last important race before the Tour is P-R and his next important race after is CX WC 2026 since he has no chance at the WCRR So unless he really goes into MTB this season, there's really no reason to skip a TdF and compete for a few stages and yellow jersey at the beginningvappaxbipmv06-01-2025
- How I can say that? Let’s look at the spirit of it and put it into context. Firstly, we are all cycling fans, we have been for a while, we’ve almost all been here a while too so have absorbed some feeling for each commentators style. For those of you who might not understand, I post with the assumption, we all know enough background not to have to explain every thought with 3 paragraphs of background to justify a statement. I also don’t waste my time repeating mundanity, I try to bring a more original angle or stone to any discussion that creates a more complete picture of the whole story (often not told). So, as far as I see, and I’ve said it before, MVDP is kind of unique in racing just about 12 months a year. He races to win, ie, he also trains for that, ie he has to train to peak more than a dozen times a year as opposed to typical road racers (including Jonas, Remco* and to a lesser extent WVA and Pog) who try to peak 1-around 3, 4 max half a dozen x a year). Obviously, training for a three week race and doing it is going to put a dent in results before and after and maybe even as far as the “off-season” (when he is at his most active winning xc week after week after week for years. Do you see my point a bit better now?Mistermaumau06-01-2025
- Sorry, maybe you thought I meant on TV? Obviously, most of the big fans in Belgium watching these two would take the opportunity to go watch live. I was once unlucky the TdF passed right near my house (when I lived in the south of France) it was over in 30 seconds, all 180 riders.Mistermaumau06-01-2025
- How can you say that, last season he had 7! race days before the Tour, that's neither a lot nor oftenvappaxbipmv06-01-2025
- It would be interesting to see if he could go for a green jersey onetime. Considering his penchant for winning everything possible, I’m surprised he doesn’t try this once.mij06-01-2025