Van Alphen and Nys win World Cup Flamanville
The UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup resumed this weekend in Flamanville, France. After wins early in the day for juniors Filippo Grigolini (Italy) and Lise Revol (France), and under-23 Aubin Sparfel (France), the elites took centre stage in the afternoon.
In the absence of World Cup leader Lucinda Brand, it was all to play for among the elite women. Countless riders were after a career-best first-ever World Cup win, including Seven Racing's Aniek van Alphen, who flew clear early in the second lap. After a determined race, Amandine Fouquenet took a fantastic, potentially career-defining second place ahead of former world champion Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, the latter in her first race of the season after recovering from a knee injury.
The men's race was a blockbuster affair for seven of the nine laps as the lead group evolved through various iterations as some suffered issues, and others powered back into contention. At the start of the seventh lap, five riders remained in contention – Joris Nieuwenhuis, Lars van der Haar, Cameron Mason, Thibau Nys and Niels Vandeputte – but by the end of the same circuit of the castle grounds, Nys had attacked clear, Nieuwenhuis had suffered a mechanical and Vandeputte had dropped away, leaving Van der Haar and Mason to fight over the last two steps of the podium. Nys never had a huge lead, but it was just enough, even with a mistake factored in, and he took his second consecutive win to extend his World Cup lead, with Van der Haar second and Mason third.
Elite women top 5
- Aniek van Alphen (Seven Racing) 47:26
- Amandine Fouquenet (Arkéa-B&B, for now) +0:16
- Ceylin Del Carmen Alvarado (Fenix-Deceuninck) +0:22
- Inge van der Heijden (Crelan-Corendon) +0:44
- Leonie Bentveld (Pauwels Sauzen-Altez) +0:50
Elite men top 5
- Thibau Nys (Baloise Glowi Lions) 1:03:01
- Lars van der Haar (Baloise Glowi Lions) +0:03
- Cameron Mason (Seven Racing) +0:05
- Niels Vandeputte (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:23
- Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Corendon) +0:26
