Sanne Cant and Mathieu van der Poel Return to Winning Ways at Brico Cross Meulebeke

MEULEBEKE, Belgium—On what might be best described as a Disneyland of a cyclocross course, reigning Euroepan Cyclocross Champs Sanne Cant (Iko Beobank) and teammate Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon – Circus) celebrated their return to European cyclocross racing with dramatic UCI C2 wins at the 2018 Brico Cross in Meulebeke.

The Brico Cross course was jammed packed with almost every cyclocross feature imaginable, with countless flyovers, two parallel Azencross-style pump sections, tight off-camber zig-zags, a long, barely rideable sand pit (if you are Van der Poel or Laurens Sweeck), and hoppable barriers.

The technical, fast course made for tight racing in the women’s race, with Cant bouncing back from a fifth place at the 2018 Jingle Cross World Cup to edge out Ellen van Loy (Telenet Fidea), Loes Sels (Pauwels Sauzen – Vastgoedservice) and teammate Ceylin Del Carmen Alvarado (Corendon – Circus) for the win.

American Elle Anderson (Milwaukee – Alpha Motorhomes) finished in sixth, 52 seconds back.

The men’s race featured four contenders, followed by massive chase packs for much of the race.

Van der Poel, despite a brief break from racing after the mountain bike world championships, was his usual aggressive self early, drawing out new Cibel-Celon signee Wout van Aert, Quinten Hermans (Telenet Fidea) and Eli Iserbyt (Marlux – Bingoal).

Just three laps in, Van der Poel opened up a gap that hovered around ten seconds, but the chasing three kept him in sight for much of the race, and even narrowed it down to eight seconds with just two laps to go.

Then Van der Poel rode the entire sand pit for the first time all race, opening his gap back up to 13 seconds, and leaving the others to settle for second.

Van Aert dropped his companions and returned to his familiar position as next-best, just as he finished at the U.S. World Cups.

Hermans finished third while Iserbyt faded late to finish fourth.

Full results below. Stay tuned for coverage from Charm City and West Sacramento GP.

2018 Brico Cross Meulebeke Results - Elite Women

2018 Brico Cross Meulebeke Results - Elite Men