Shirin van Anrooij blasts through rain and mud for solo win at Exact Cross Loenhout

Dutch Shirin van Anrooij celebrates on the podium after winning the women elite race at the UCI Cyclocross World Cup cyclocross event in Beekse Bergen The Netherlands Sunday 13 November 2022 the fifth out of 14 stages in the World Cup trophy in the 20222023 season BELGA PHOTO DAVID PINTENS Photo by DAVID PINTENS BELGA MAG Belga via AFP Photo by DAVID PINTENSBELGA MAGAFP via Getty Images
Shirin van Anrooij (Baloise Trek Lions) took the win (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

Shirin van Anrooij (Trek Baloise Lions) more than lived up to her status as pre-race favourite at the Exact Cross in Loenhout, blasting through rough weather and course conditions to take her third win in a week.

At the end of a long, 49-minute race, Marie Schreiber (Tormans) placed second, 57 seconds down, after Van Anrooij took off just a lap into the largely flat, rain-soaked, and muddy course in the province of Antwerp. Manon Bakker (Crelan-Fristads) rounded out the podium in third.

With a second place Superprestige Diegem, wins at the Gavere World Cup and the Exact Cross at Mol to her name in the last week – not to mention a third place in Loenhout in 2020 – Van Anrooij was always likely to be one of the favourites.

From then on, the Dutchwoman's only real rival was herself, and if Schreiber could more or less maintain the gap on the more technical sections, each time Van Anrooij hit a faster section, the more her margin increased.

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Alasdair Fotheringham

Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The IndependentThe GuardianProCycling, The Express and Reuters.

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