Who wouldn’t be able to find an extra 1% in front of a passionate crowd of 40,000 plus spectators?
Especially at home in the Netherlands.
| Rnk | Rider | Team | Competition points | Pnt | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VAN EMPEL Fem | Netherlands | 275 | 0:54:42 | |
| 2 | PIETERSE Puck | Netherlands | 225 | 0:39 | |
| 3 | BRAND Lucinda | Netherlands | 190 | 1:11 | |
| 4 | PERSICO Silvia | Italy | 170 | 1:45 | |
| 5 | ALVARADO Ceylin del Carmen | Netherlands | 150 | 1:46 | |
| 6 | WORST Annemarie | Netherlands | 135 | 2:14 | |
| 7 | VAN DER HEIJDEN Inge | Netherlands | 120 | 2:36 | |
| 8 | BETSEMA Denise | Netherlands | 105 | 2:41 | |
| 9 | ROCHETTE Maghalie | Canada | 90 | 2:55 | |
| 10 | CLAUZEL Hélène | France | 80 | 3:02 |
Fem Van Empel benefitted from the decision of Shirin Van Anrooij to stick with the U23s and romped home to get the home nation up and running in the Elite category.
We were then treated to one of the best races I have ever seen in any form of cycling.
I have used this website in the past to highlight the 1994 Paris-Roubaix as the best race I have seen. This was close to surpassing it.
The deadly duo of Mathieu Van der Poel and Wout Van Aert rode nonchalantly clear of the rest of the men’s elite field very early on.
At one point their lead over every other rider battling behind them was close to one minute. The dominance was so complete.
They did try and work each other over and onto the front in the last lap or two which saw the gap to bronze medal Eli Iserbyt close. But the top two were constantly looking back and you know full well an acceleration could come at any moment to re-establish the advantage.
Attacks were traded in a blow by blow fashion and having the planks on an uphill section certainly made a difference on a number of laps.
VdP was getting over them and away quicker than his Belgian rival and it might well have been the gapping of Wout lap after lap at this point of the course that took the edge of his final sprint.
What I do know is that this race will live long in the memory and you should most definitely watch it back (even if you saw it live!)
Bike racing doesn’t get much better than this… unless its the 1994 spring classics and its snowing outside the Arenberg forest of course.
| Rnk | Rider | Team | Competition points | Pnt | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VAN DER POEL Mathieu | Netherlands | 275 | 1:07:20 | |
| 2 | VAN AERT Wout | Belgium | 225 | ,, | |
| 3 | ISERBYT Eli | Belgium | 190 | 0:12 | |
| 4 | VAN DER HAAR Lars | Netherlands | 170 | 0:13 | |
| 5 | VANTHOURENHOUT Michael | Belgium | 150 | 0:46 | |
| 6 | KUYPERS Gerben | Belgium | 135 | 0:54 | |
| 7 | VANDEPUTTE Niels | Belgium | 120 | 0:57 | |
| 8 | SWEECK Laurens | Belgium | 105 | 0:59 | |
| 9 | MASON Cameron | Great Britain | 90 | 1:08 | |
| 10 | VENTURINI Clément | France | 80 | 1:30 |
Race results from Procyclingstats.com
Fendrien 