CX Waaslandcross Men – Preview
By @EchelonsHub
The Course
In for the final weekend of the season and it will not be an easy one as the weather has been quite bad and the tracks for the weekend are expected to be quite brutal to deal with it. Tomorrow at the Waaslandcross that is what’s expected, despite being a relatively flat track, it’s grassy terrain will make for a very heavy and sluggish race which should feature quite some mud sections due to the rain, which the riders may avoid but the track hasn’t.
Being raced around a small lake it isn’t a too complicated track with only some banks making for the gradients in the race, it is one marked with technical features however with some running sections, stairs and a long sand section towards the end of the track. It’s a race where technique will be very important and despite being quite flat I don’t believe slipstreaming will be essencial, mostly it will be making as little mistakes as possible and having a great start that will make for the grand part of the results.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7sI0swLnTM&t=2s The Startlist
| 1.Eli Iserbyt | 2.Michael Vanthourenhout | 3.Laurens Sweeck | 4.Vincent Baestaens |
| 5.Daan Soete | 6.Corne van Kessel | 7.Toon Vandebosch | 8.Niels Vandeputte |
| 9.Jens Adams | 10.Ryan Kamp | 11.Mees Hendrikx | 12.Timon Ruegg |
| 13.Tom Meeusen | 14.Thijs Aerts | 15.Joran Wyseure | 16.Thomas Mein |
| 17.Lander Loockx | 18.Stan Godrie | 19.Thibau Nys | 20.Théo Thomas |
| 21.David Menut | 22.Gilles Mottiez | 23.Lorenzo Masciarelli | 24.Diether Sweeck |
| 25.Raphael Kockelmann | 26.Heinrich Haussler | 27.Cameron Jette | 28.Yentl Bekaert |
| 29.Arne Vrachten | 30.Jonathan Anderson | 31.Wout Vervoort | 32.Arne Baers |
| 33.Koen Van Dijke | 34.Mickael Crispin | 35.Lukas Vanderlinden | 36.Julian Siemons |
| 37.Mathijs Wuyts | 38.Mathis Avondts | 39.Gauthier Heymes | 40.Jaro Debruyne |
| 41.Jannik Harig | 42.Siebe Tormans | 43.Senne d’Hollander | 44.Ferre Geeraerts |
| 45.Niels Dias | 46.Elio Clarysse | 47.Andy Ruts | 48.Kenneth van Compernolle |
| 49.Rune de Baere | 50.Ydris Salomez | 51.Anaick van Wissen | 52.Silas Schmid |
| 53.Jelle Harteel | 54.Tetsuki Kaji | 55.Timo Kielich | 56.Felix Paul |
| 57.Ingmar Uytdewilligen |
Official startlist, may not be fully accurate. The Favourites
It’s a startlist lacking many of the big names as many of the big names have signed off to focus on the road season, and Trek are missing both of their leaders, van der Haar due to a knee surgery and Aerts due to a positive for a banned substance, which is still an ongoing process.
Nevertheless there is still some racing left as this weekend presents the final opportunities for the riders to succeed. In pole position is Pauwels Sauzen who have their trio present and should be the ones to beat in this tough race. With the tough sandy and technical sections I’d have Laurens Sweeck as the one to watch the most, although both Michael Vanthourenhout and Eli Iserbyt can take the win on their best day, and I believe they’ll have some tactical racing to assure the win for themselves. Toon Vandebosch also being a part of those tactics.
To rival them the riders who are likely to come the closest are Jens Adams and Niels Vandeputte, however that is expecting a very strong performance from them, but they have surprised lately so I’m putting them in that spot. Vincent Baestaens, Daan Soete, Tom Meeusen and Corne van Kessel are all viable alternatives.
As for the U23 riders I believe some will pop in the same fight, world champion Joran Wyseure should love the heavy track at hand just like he has in Gullegem. Ryan Kamp, Mees Hendrikx, Thibau Nys and Théo Thomas are good wildcards aswell.
Prediction Time 1st– Laurens Sweeck 2nd– Michael Vanthourenhout 3rd– Jens Adams 4th– Eli Iserbyt 5th– Joran Wyseure 
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