CX Oostmalle Men 2022 – Preview
By @EchelonsHub
The Course
It is the final race of the cyclocross season, a big day to wrap off a big season. In Oostmalle the riders will find a track that will be raced in hard conditions as Belgium keeps suffering from the bad weather over the weekend. The track however won’t be overly affected by it though as it is a very sandy course and the rain will help build ruts and made the track a bit more solid.
Oostmalle is an incredibly technical course as you can tell by the map, but more so as a big portion of the track goes over sand, in some places quite shallow and meaningless, in others with deep ruts which include many corners. It won’t be a fast race, however it is one for those who makes less mistakes and string the sections together as well as possible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpbFzl1TZ_E
Recon of the track.
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.Kevin Kuhn |
| 9.Niels Vandeputte | 10.Marcel Meisen | 11.Jens Adams | 12.Ryan Kamp |
| 13.Mees Hendrickx | 14.Timon Ruegg | 15.Tom Meeusen | 16.Thijs Aerts |
| 17.Joran Wyseure | 18.Thomas Mein | 19.Lander Loockx | 20.Stan Godrie |
| 21.Thibau Nys | 22.Théo Thomas | 23.David Menut | 24.Gilles Mottiez |
| 25.Lorenzo Masciarelli | 26.Diether Sweeck | 27.Danny van Lierop | 28.Heinrich Haussler |
| 29.Lennert Belmans | 30.Ward Huybs | 31.Cameron Jette | 32.Yentl Bekaert |
| 33.Arne Vrachten | 34.Joachim van Looveren | 35.Arno van den Broeck | 36.Jonathan Anderson |
| 37.Nicola Parenti | 38.Arne Baers | 39.Koen van Dijke | 40.Thomas Verheyen |
| 41.Mickael Crispin | 42.Stef ter Laak | 43.Lukas Vanderlinden | 44.Julian Siemons |
| 45.Jens Gys | 46.Mathijs Wuyts | 47.Mathijs Avonds | 48.Maarten van Staeyen |
| 49.Niels Koyen | 50.Kenneth van Compernolle | 51.Ferre Geeraerts | 52.Rune Smits |
| 53.Wout Janssen | 54.Siebe Tormans | 55.Jonas Mertens | 56.Klaas Groenen |
| 57.Senne D’Hollander | 58.Nick Peers | 59.Jelle Harteel | 60.Silas Schmid |
| 61.Tetsuki Kaji | 62.Timo Kielich | 63.Jaro Debruyne | 64.Yelle Leaerts |
| 65.Jetze van Campenhout | 66.Felix Paul | 67.Eli Clarysse | 68.Andy Ruts |
| 69.Ruben Lembrecths | 70.Pieter Meelberghs | 71.Ingmar Uytdewilligen |
Startlist provided by the organization, may not be fully accurate.
The Favourites
The Pauwels Sauzen trio has dominated the race today and I expect nothing less tomorrow. The Belgian team is benefiting from the absence of the other main riders in the CX scene. Being a sandy technical track Laurens Sweeck should have the advantage, today however he did seem to struggle in some off-camber sections so it is possible the same will repeat itself tomorrow. Michael Vanthourenhout and Eli Iserbyt are both fully capable of taking a win aswell and they have shown today that there is no pressure to take wins, and racing as a team they are fully capable of helping each other out.
The fight for the Top 5 is sure to be interesting, with the likes of Swiss Kevin Kuhn and Timon Ruegg who thrived today as big contenders who are showing some great late-season form, they will battle with some more experienced riders as Corne van Kessel, Jens Adams and Vincent Baestaens, some young Elite riders who occasionally ride incredibly strong like Toon Vandebosch and Niels Vandeputte, and the very talented U23 generation that’s coming, in this race lead by the likes of Thibau Nys, Joran Wyseure, Ryan Kamp and Mees Hendrickx.
The likes of Daan Soete, Tom Meeusen, Thijs Aerts and Théo Thomas for example are not to discount though, as on a good day they are also capable of being in the battle.
Prediction Time
1st– Laurens Sweeck
2nd– Michael Vanthourenhout
3rd– Eli Iserbyt
4th– Niels Vandeputte
5th– Jens Adams
BELGA PHOTO DAVID STOCKMAN (Photo by DAVID STOCKMAN/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images)
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Rúben Silva
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