Michael Vanthourenhout powers long solo win in snow-covered Brussels Universities Cross

Michael Vanthourenhout has won the Brussels Universities Cyclocross. The rider from Pauwels Sauzen-Altez Industriebouw rode upfront alongside his teammate Gerben Kuypers, until the latter dropped back due to mechanical trouble. Vanthourenhout then went solo and crossed the line with a comfortable margin. Joris Nieuwenhuis secured the overall victory in the X2O Trophy.

Niels Vandeputte, who had also won his previous two cyclocross races, started as the top favorite in the Brussels Universities Cyclocross. His main rivals included Michael Vanthourenhout, Felipe Orts, and Joris Nieuwenhuis. The latter began the final round of the X2O Trophy as the leader. The Dutchman held a comfortable lead of 3:17 over his closest challenger, Vandeputte. Something extraordinary would have to happen for him to lose the overall win.

Vanthourenhout creates a gap
Vandeputte and Nieuwenhuis both got off to a good start, but the initial lead went to Kevin Kuhn. The Swiss rider stretched the peloton under a Brussels snowfall. Orts, Vanthourenhout, and Gerben Kuypers followed closely, with Lars van der Haar also in contention. Behind them, a larger gap formed after Cameron Mason crashed.

At the end of the first lap, the lead group consisted of four riders: Nieuwenhuis, Vandeputte, Kuypers, and Vanthourenhout, who was leading. After a slip by Vandeputte – who was in second place – Vanthourenhout suddenly broke away. Now, the rider in second was also from Pauwels Sauzen-Altez Industriebouw as Kuypers started to pull away from the rest of the competitors. He began chasing his teammate.

Kuypers catches up but then faces bad luck
After two laps, Kuypers was eight seconds behind Vanthourenhout, while the Vandeputte-Nieuwenhuis duo trailed the leader by sixteen seconds. Kuypers then bridged the gap to Vanthourenhout and briefly pushed ahead of his teammate. However, he couldn’t shake him off for good. Midway through the race, Kuypers encountered misfortune: his derailleur broke well before the technical zone. Forced to run a long section on foot, Vanthourenhout began his solo ride.

Over the following laps, Vanthourenhout steadily extended his lead. Even though he made a few errors himself, he was certain of the win well before the finish. The main focus shifted to the battle for second place. Vandeputte won that fight, with Kuypers settling for third. Nieuwenhuis lost some time to Vandeputte but still claimed the overall X2O Trophy victory.