We can already say that Benidorm has been so far the most exciting race of the CX World Cup 2024. The favorites did not disappoint and in a thrilling race, Wout van Aert took a great victory after an unexpected crash of Van der Poel.
Far from what we had seen in the previous races of the World Cup, the start of the Benidorm circuit was very hard on the favorites and relegated Van Aert, Pidcock and Van der Poel to very late positions from the start.
A fast course, with few areas where to overtake and some mechanical problems made that after the first lap we saw Wout van Aert out of the Top 10, Pidcock in 15th position and Van der Poel a little behind in 19th position, he was even 25th.
While the comebacks of each of them started, the race was being led by pure cyclocross riders like Laurent Sweeck or Joris Nieuwenhuis.
But as the laps went by, the race was taking on a different tone. Wout van Aert was the first of the “Big Three” to take the lead of the race and tried to increase the pace to open a gap with Van der Poel, but the World Champion showed that he still plays in another league and his overtaking seemed to put the opponents on pause.
It was 20 minutes into the race and it was at the start of lap 4 when Van Aert looked back to find Van der Poel catching him for the first time in third. Only Thibau Nys stood between them, but the World Champion’s pace was demoralizing his rivals.
But Van der Poel’s comeback was far from over and with a devastating overtake he took the lead ahead of Van Aert with 5 laps to go. It was on lap 5 when the race took a break, which allowed Tom Pidcock to get up to Van Aert and Van der Poel and even took the lead.
Everything seemed to relax over the next few laps and Michael Vannthourenhout, Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel and Tom Pidcock were leading the race as a group. But the pace slowed so much that the riders at the back soon connected with the lead and by the penultimate lap, the top 10 riders were riding together.
However, all hell broke loose when Mathieu van der Poel went to the ground on the penultimate lap when he crashed into the foot of one of the fences of the circuit. Wout van Aert and Vannthourenhout took advantage of the crash to attack and go solo.
Van der Poel’s crash left the World Champion very hurt and he started the last lap in 10th position and 22 seconds off the front. Everything pointed to this being his first defeat of the season.
Wout Van Aert knew how to control the race from that moment on and with an impeccable management he took the final victory despite a last fall in which he ripped off the saddle and that could have cost him dearly.
At the finish the podium was completely Belgian with Michael Vannthourenhout in second place and Thibau Nys closing the podium. Van der Poel finally finished 5th and Tom Pidcock 9th behind a great Felpie Orts who finished 8th.
Results CX World Cup Benidorm 2024
1.- VAN AERT Wout (TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE)
2.- VANTHOURENHOUT Michael (PAUWELS SAUZEN – BINGOAL) +3
3.- NYS Thibau (BALOISE TREK LIONS) +7
4.- ISERBYT Eli (PAUWELS SAUZEN – BINGOAL) +7
5.- VAN DER POEL Mathieu (ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK) +12
6.- VANDEBOSCH Toon (CRELAN-CORENDON) +13
7.- VAN DER HAAR Lars (BALOISE TREK LIONS) +15
8.- ORTS LLORET Felipe +21
9.- PIDCOCK Thomas (INEOS GRENADIERS) +27
10.- VENTURINI Clement (ARKEA) +31
Source: www.brujulabike.com