Wout van Aert unbeatable in Loenhout

Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) made it six wins in a row for the 2021-2022 cyclo-cross season, taking out the Azencross in Loenhout ahead of Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) and Toon Aerts (Baloise Trek).

Unlike his previous wins, where he rode away solo early in the race, Van Aert waited until the penultimate lap to ditch Quinten Hermans (Tormans CX) and Laurens Sweeck (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) in pursuit of Vanthourenhout, who attacked through the pit mid-lap.

Van Aert bridged across to Vanthourenhout then left him behind, while the race for the X2O Badkamers Trophy played out further back, where Aerts fought to gain time over Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal).

Vanthourenhout held on for second at 14 seconds, while Aerts made great strides toward the GC in third at 27 seconds but 1:13 ahead of rival Iserbyt. He now leads the series by nearly two minutes.

 "I am happy with this victory. I tried to achieve it as economically as possible, because there was a lot of wind today," Van Aert said.

"There was a long stretch into the headwind. That's why I didn't want to go alone too quickly, because that would have cost me a lot of strength. I tried to make the difference a little later."

"When Michael Vanthourenhout accelerated, I had to give everything to get back on track and then I immediately took over. For the time being, things are going very well. I hope to get through the coming races well, because there are a lot of them in a short time. And then hopefully I will be recovered in time for the Belgian Championship."

In absence of his famous brother, David van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) took the hole shot but it was Sweeck who claimed the early lead, stretching the bunch out along the heavy, muddy course.

Aerts attacked for the bonus seconds, followed by Iserbyt and Hermans but the race stayed largely together until lap three, when Van Aert put in a surge and took Sweeck and Hermans along.

Vanthourenhout scrambled across on lap four thanks to a superior strategy coping with a ditch right before the mechanic's pit. Riding far into the pits before taking a new bike, he joined the leaders and used the same strategy on the next lap to attack.

But Van Aert was ready and joined Vanthourenhout and, despite sliding out on a slick bend and having to step off, he found his footing and soon attacked to solo to victory.