Wout van Aert (Cibel-Cebon) preferred to travel 600km and race the Cyclo-cross International de La Mézière race in Brittany on Sunday, but the trip was worth the effort, with the world champion taking a morale-boosting win and collecting a significant appearance fee.
Belgian media suggested Van Aert received a 20,000 Euro fee – double his usual amount, and flew to western France from Belgium to avoid the long drive. It was his third win of the season after struggling to match Mathieu van der Poel’s dominance in the more important races.
Van Aert warmed up on the rollers before his race and used his superior speed to quickly go clear of the pack. Keen to push himself just a week before the Belgian national championships, he raced hard for an hour, opening a two-minute lead on his rivals.
At the finish, Van Aert was already warming down on the rollers before Clement Venturini (AG2R-La Mondiale) beat Quinten Hermans (Telenet-Fidea) for second place.
“I attacked early because I wanted a hard race. I needed a hard race because the Belgian championships next week will be a hard race,” Van Aert said in French as he warmed down.
“It’s never easy to win, but my gap was big and that’s good.”
Results
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wout Van Aert (Bel) Cibel-Cebon | 1:05:20 | |
| 2 | Clement Venturini (Fra) | 0:01:47 | |
| 3 | Quinten Hermans (Bel) Telenet Fidea Lions | ||
| 4 | Antoine Benoist (Fra) Team Chazal Canyon | 0:02:20 | |
| 5 | Gianni Vermeersch (Bel) Steylaerts - 777 | 0:02:39 | |
| 6 | Mickaël Crispin (Fra) Team Chazal Canyon | 0:02:41 | |
| 7 | Nicolas Cleppe (Bel) Telenet Fidea Lions | 0:02:48 | |
| 8 | Vincent Baestaens (Bel) | 0:02:52 | |
| 9 | Clément Russo (Fra) | ||
| 10 | Steve Chainel (Fra) Team Chazal Canyon | ||
| 11 | Matthieu Boulo (Fra) | 0:03:01 | |
| 12 | Francis Mourey (Fra) S1Neo Connect Cycling Team | 0:03:05 | |
| 13 | Lucas Dubau (Fra) | 0:03:30 | |
| 14 | Simon Zahner (Swi) | ||
| 15 | Valentin Guillaud (Fra) | 0:04:23 | |
| 16 | David Menut (Fra) | 0:04:39 | |
| 17 | Lilian Calmejane (Fra) | 0:04:48 | |
| 18 | Emil Hekele (Cze) | 0:04:56 | |
| 19 | Joshua Dubau (Fra) | 0:05:36 | |
| 20 | Yan Gras (Fra) Team Chazal Canyon | 0:05:48 | |
| 21 | Joris Delbove (Fra) S1Neo Connect Cycling Team | 0:06:20 | |
| 22 | Sammy Cadot Roger (Fra) | 0:06:27 | |
| 23 | Almenzo Benoist (Fra) | ||
| 24 | Julien Roussel (Fra) | 0:06:46 | |
| 25 | Tony Periou (Fra) | ||
| 26 | Valentin Humbert (Fra) S1Neo Connect Cycling Team | 0:06:49 | |
| 27 | Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) | ||
| 28 | Thomas Gachignard (Fra) | 0:07:13 | |
| 29 | Mathieu Taburet (Fra) | 1 lap | |
| 30 | Erwann Kerraud (Fra) | 1 lap | |
| 31 | Elie Gesbert (Fra) | 1 lap | |
| 32 | Thibault Valognes (Fra) | 1 lap | |
| 33 | Florian Le Corre (Fra) | 2 laps | |
| 34 | Guillaume Guilbaud (Fra) | 2 laps | |
| 35 | Julien Leclercq (Fra) | 2 laps | |
| 36 | Laudelino Plas (Fra) | 2 laps | |
| 37 | Cyprien Gilles (Fra) | 2 laps | |
| 38 | Garry Millburn (Aus) | 2 laps | |
| 39 | Karol Michalski (Pol) | 2 laps | |
| 40 | Lukáš Smola (Cze) | 2 laps | |
| 41 | Théo Gueret (Fra) | 2 laps | |
| 42 | Justin Mottier (Fra) | 2 laps | |
| 43 | Paul Ourselin (Fra) | 2 laps | |
| 44 | Erwann Denis (Fra) | 2 laps | |
| 45 | Jean Michel Huby (Fra) | 2 laps | |
| 46 | Steven Delprat (Fra) | 3 laps | |
| 47 | Bastien Godefroy (Fra) | 3 laps | |
| 48 | Romain Hardy (Fra) | 3 laps | |
| 49 | Clement Alleno (Fra) | 3 laps | |
| 50 | Julien Selvestrel (Fra) | 3 laps | |
| 51 | Ferdinand Marion (Fra) | ||
| 52 | Clement Moquet (Fra) | 3 laps | |
| 53 | Edwin De Wit (Bel) | 4 laps | |
| 54 | Antoine Josso (Fra) | 4 laps | |
| 55 | Camille Bouquet (Fra) | 4 laps | |
| 56 | Gurvan Ollivier (Fra) | 5 laps | |
| 57 | Kevin Le Guelvoud (Fra) | 5 laps | |
| DNF | Quentin Navarro (Fra) S1Neo Connect Cycling Team | ||
| DNF | Maxime Bonsergent (Fra) | ||
| DNF | Matthieu Legrand (Fra) | ||
| DNF | Simon Lepoittevin Dubost (Fra) |
