Don’t underestimate the sand! How Iserbyt outsmarted the favorites in Antwerp

The World Cup, cyclocross’s third regular competition series, finally kicked off on Sunday. The harbor city of Antwerp hosted the first race in the series. The course, set along the Scheldt River, featured plenty of sandy sections. Riding through sand is a skill mastered by only a handful of riders. One of those specialists is Laurens Sweeck, who was considered a top favorite. Other contenders included Thibau Nys, Lars van der Haar, Eli Iserbyt, and Niels Vandeputte.

Nys had the best start and entered the field first. Sweeck also got off to a strong start, clearly motivated to excel on his favorite terrain. After the first lap, the leading group consisted of nine riders: Nys, Sweeck, Iserbyt, Michael Vanthourenhout, Corné van Kessel, Van der Haar, Kevin Kuhn, Joran Wyseure, and Vandeputte.

Nys had a blazing start, leading the field into the first section, with Sweeck close behind, looking determined to dominate on his preferred surface. By the end of the first lap, the leading group was down to nine riders: Nys, Sweeck, Iserbyt, Michael Vanthourenhout, Corné van Kessel, Van der Haar, Kevin Kuhn, Joran Wyseure, and Vandeputte.

In the second lap, Sweeck launched the first attack. Iserbyt quickly joined him, and a small mistake by Nys allowed the pair to create a gap. However, they were unable to extend their lead, and the group expanded back to seven riders. Compared to the initial group of nine, Kuhn and Van Kessel had dropped off.

By the halfway point, there was still a leading group of seven, much to Iserbyt’s frustration. The Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal rider, who had claimed an impressive victory in Kortrijk on Saturday, repeatedly pushed the pace. His surges proved too much for Nys, who started to lose contact. Struggling on the sandy course, Nys gradually fell further behind the leaders.

Meanwhile, Iserbyt found his rhythm. While he’s not considered a sand specialist, the practice he’d put in on the sand track in his backyard paid off. Wearing the Belgian champion’s jersey, he grew smaller in the eyes of his chasers, as the pursuing group began to splinter. After five laps, Sweeck, Vanthourenhout, and Vandeputte emerged as the first chasers, trailing Iserbyt by roughly fifteen seconds. Van der Haar sat in sixth, twenty seconds back.

Sweeck refused to give up and increased the tempo, but the effort was too much for Vandeputte, who dropped out of contention for the podium. Vanthourenhout, Iserbyt’s teammate, stuck with Sweeck and proved a major obstacle to his chase. Despite Sweeck’s efforts, he made little headway. By the penultimate lap, his deficit was thirteen seconds, and Iserbyt showed no signs of slowing.

Further back, Nys continued to slide down the rankings. Breaking into the top ten became a significant challenge as he was overtaken in the penultimate lap by Toon Aerts, who had started outside the top twenty. At the front, Iserbyt finished the final laps with no trouble, securing a convincing victory in the first World Cup race of the cyclo-cross season. Sweeck took second, followed by Vanthourenhout in third. Nys finished a disappointing twelfth. Lars van der Haar was the best-placed Dutchman, finishing sixth, with Pim Ronhaar close behind in seventh.