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The 2022 UCI World Cup Val Di Sole was not a favorable race for Pauwels Sauzen – Bingoal as both their stars suffered a major crash at the same location. With a surprising turn of events, Eli Iserbyt also crashed at the same location as Fem Van Empel. This crash caused Iserbyt to be withdrawn from the race.

Later reports showed that no bones were fractured.

However, all was not lost for Pauwels Sauzen – Bingoal as Michael Vanthourenhout came in first and made up for Iserbyt’s withdrawal. His performance showed his skill and mastery of the snowy terrain. He did better than last year’s Val Di Sole and moved up from second to first, with last years winner Van Aert missing.

Vandeputte Niels (Alpecin – Deceuninck) came in second followed by Kevin Kuhn (Tormans Cyclo Cross Team) three seconds later. This was Kuhn’s ever first podium.

 

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What about Van der Poel, the only big three on the start list? Mathieu van der Poel finished in 8th place. This is the third time out of the 40 World Cups that he did not finish on the podium. The other two times were all the way back in 2017 Hoogerheide and 2016 Heusden-Zolder.

After his 8th-place finish, Van der Poel did not comment on his performance. Instead, his father gave us an insight into what happened in Val Di Sole.

“I think Mathieu drove around with a gigantic egg in his pants today,” said Adrie. (Translated)

According to Adrie, this just meant that Van der Poel was scared of getting injured in the course. With such a packed race schedule ahead, he could not afford to get into any serious crashes. He was not confident in the snow and ice so he proceeded to take the safe route. According to his father, Van der Poel’s heart rate did not peak over 125 in the last five laps. As he passed rider after rider that had crashed, he became more worried. The Alpecin-Deceuninck team management clearly knew his fear and hesitation and highly advised against him pushing himself.

According to Adrie, his performance was nothing to worry about, and he will be back to his normal self on the next course.

Read the full story here.

See the full highlights below.

2022 UCI Cyclocross World Cup Val di Sole Highlights: Men’s Race:

See full results below.

2022 UCI World Cup Val Di Sole Results - Elite Men

PosNrName / UCI Cyclocross TeamNATTimeGap
1.12VANTHOURENHOUT Michael
PAUWELS SAUZEN - BINGOAL		BEL57:59-
2.11VANDEPUTTE Niels
ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK		BEL58:38+0:39
3.28KUHN Kevin
TORMANS CYCLO CROSS TEAM		SUI58:41+0:42
4.8SWEECK Laurens
CRELAN - FRISTADS		BEL58:43+0:44
5.32RÜEGG Timon
CROSS TEAM LEGENDRE		SUI59:19+1:20
6.4BAESTAENS Vincent
BELGIUM		BEL1:00:36+2:37
7.22RONHAAR Pim
BALOISE TREK LIONS		NED1:00:50+2:51
8.23VAN DER POEL Mathieu
ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK		NED1:01:13+3:14
9.3AERTS Thijs
BALOISE TREK LIONS		BEL1:01:18+3:19
10.24VAN KESSEL Corne
TORMANS CYCLO CROSS TEAM		NED1:01:18+3:19
11.9VAN DE PUTTE Victor
DESCHACHT-HENS-MAES		BEL1:01:19+3:20
12.21GODRIE Stan
NETHERLANDS		NED1:01:40+3:41
13.10VANDEBOSCH Toon
ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK		BEL1:01:52+3:53
14.50SAMPARISI Nicolas
KTM ALCHEMIST POWERED BY BRENTA BRAKES		ITA1:01:54+3:55
15.46FONTANA Filippo
CS CARABINIERI - CICLI OLYMPIA VITTORIA		ITA1:01:58+3:59
16.6LOOCKX Lander
DESCHACHT-HENS-MAES		BEL1:01:59+4:00
17.52VERMEERSCH Gianni
ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK		BEL1:02:07+4:08
18.7MEEUSSEN Witse
PAUWELS SAUZEN - BINGOAL		BEL1:02:09+4:10
19.42CEOLIN Federico
BELTRAMI TSA TRE COLLI		ITA1:02:56+4:57
20.17GROSLAMBERT Martin
FRANCE		FRA1:02:57+4:58
21.15BOMMENEL Nathan
AS BIKE RACING		FRA1:03:01+5:02
22.31OPPIZZI Matteo
SWITZERLAND		SUI1:03:05+5:06
23.19MENUT David
AS BIKE RACING		FRA1:03:13+5:14
24.30MOTTIEZ Gilles
CROSS TEAM LEGENDRE		SUI1:03:14+5:15
25.36MEISEN Marcel
GERMANY		GER1:03:22+5:23
26.40BERTOLINI Gioele
SELLE ITALIA - GUERCIOTTI - ELITE		ITA1:03:25+5:26
27.18LELANDAIS Rémi
CROSS TEAM LEGENDRE		FRA1:03:35+5:36
28.2ADAMS Jens
BELGIUM		BEL1:04:31+6:32
29.49PAVAN Marco
ITALY		ITA-1 LAP
30.25BARD Nicolas
SWITZERLAND		SUI-1 LAP
31.37AGOSTINACCHIO Filippo
SELLE ITALIA - GUERCIOTTI - ELITE		ITA-2 LAP
32.45FOLCARELLI Antonio
ITALY		ITA-2 LAP
33.20THOMAS Théo
SEBMOTOBIKES CX TEAM		FRA-2 LAP
34.35HAMM Florian
GERMANY		GER-2 LAP
35.41CALLIGARO Cristian
KTM ALCHEMIST POWERED BY BRENTA BRAKES		ITA-3 LAP
36.47HUEZ Emanuele
CS CARABINIERI - CICLI OLYMPIA VITTORIA		ITA-3 LAP
37.16CASTILLE Noé
CROSS TEAM LEGENDRE		FRA-3 LAP
38.34GAßNER Michael
GERMANY		GER-3 LAP
39.26CERATO Gabriele
SWITZERLAND		SUI-3 LAP
40.39BERGAGNA Tommaso
ITALY		ITA-3 LAP
41.27GAFNER Thierry
SWITZERLAND		SUI-4 LAP
42.38BASSIGNANA Fabio
TRINX FACTORY TEAM		ITA-4 LAP
43.29MORARD Dimitri
SWITZERLAND		SUI-5 LAP
44.43COMINELLI Cristian
CYCLING CAFE' RACING TEAM		ITA-5 LAP
45.33TERMENS NADAL Josep
CANNONDALE TB		ESP-6 LAP
5ISERBYT Eli
PAUWELS SAUZEN - BINGOAL		BELDNF
48MASCIARELLI Lorenzo
PAUWELS SAUZEN - BINGOAL		ITADNF