"Wout van Aert's supporters can breathe again" - Paul Herygers delighted to see Belgian's cyclocross campaign end on a high

In the Sunday, Alicante sunshine, Wout van Aert secured himself the perfect end to his cyclocross campaign, taking victory at a thrilling edition of the UCI World Cup in Benidorm.

"Pristine, as he envisaged it. He has come out of winter without a hitch. Performing this today, you can't believe," the Sporza commentator reflected in his post-race analysis. "If you need to win a cross to mentally torture yourself again towards the road season, today was it."

Van Aert's great rival, Mathieu van der Poel had been unbeatable all winter before Sunday. "Very important. Luckily for him, this happened today. This was van Aert's best cross of the year," Herygers analyses. "van Aert's supporters can breathe again and don't have to grieve anymore."

In Herygers' view, the difference in levels between van Aert of a few weeks ago and of now is stark. "This is more than 1%, huh. You can see that right away," he explains. "Nobody could catch Van der Poel back, until today. That he does it just now - in the last seconds of his last cross - is very punishing. And I think he needed it too. He can lean on this for a few months."