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Within the absence of Mathieu van der Poel and Tom Pidcock, Wout van Aert was the runaway favorite for Superprestige Gullegem on Saturday, and the Belgian champion duly lived as much as his billing with a dominant solo victory.
After successful in Koksijde on Thursday, the Jumbo-Visma rider had famous that he been spurred on by the sound of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Dancing within the Darkish’ blaring over the general public handle system. In Gullegem, unsurprisingly, the disc jockey additionally delved into his file assortment for The Boss’ tunes.
“However now it’s not unique. They should provide you with one thing new,” Van Aert joked to Sporza (opens in new tab). “I am going to consider it for the following cross, however I favor to concentrate on the game itself.”
Whatever the musical accompaniment, Van Aert’s superiority was by no means in any doubt on Saturday. The Jumbo-Visma rider tracked the early accelerations earlier than making a transfer of his personal close to the halfway level, dropping his rivals one after the other on a course rendered treacherous by incessant rain.
“It had change into very technical due to the rain,” Van Aert mentioned. “I’d have favored to have stayed within the wheels for a bit longer, but it surely was really way more tough there. At one level I felt that I’d do higher if I might take my very own strains after which I simply tried to maintain going.”
Van Aert, who recorded his seventh win of the cyclocross marketing campaign with 22 seconds to spare over Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) and 41 over Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), was succinct when requested concerning the absent Van der Poel and Pidcock. “It’s a must to beat the riders which might be there,” mentioned Van Aert, who has been the dominant drive on the cyclocross circuit over the Christmas interval.
“The final two weeks went very effectively. I had some good victories. Particularly within the Superprestige, just like the race in Diegem, which was all the time tough for me to win. However this winter I succeeded. Right here in Gullegem, I’ve additionally received for the primary time, so I’m very pleased with that.”
Van Aert might be in motion as soon as extra on Sunday, when he strains out on the Zonhoven World Cup, the place Van der Poel might be amongst his opponents.
The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider complained of again ache in Koksijde on Thursday, however Het Laatste Nieuws reported on Saturday that he can be on the beginning line in Zonhoven.
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