The X2O Trophy Hamme was won by Wout van Aert. A week before the World Cup in Hoogerheide (Sunday 5 February), the Jumbo-Visma rider showed that the form is still perfectly fine. Already in the second round he went off alone and in the remainder of the cross no one came close. Eli Iserbyt was second, Michael Vanthourenhout third. Fourth place was for Pim Ronhaar.

X2O Trofee Hamme

While Mathieu van der Poel contests the Besançon World Cup on Sunday, Wout van Aert rode his last cross before the World Cup in Belgium. He started in the X2O Trofee Hamme on Saturday. Eli Iserbyt, Lars van der Haar and Michael Vanthourenhout, among others, were also present, but Van Aert had the best start. The Jumbo-Visma rider was the first to enter the field. There, however, he quickly dived into the switch post, dropping him back to fifth place. Daan Soete was leading at that time. That continued for a while, but Van Aert has already moved up to second place. Vanthourenhout followed in his footsteps, behind it we saw Iserbyt. Thibau Nys and Pim Ronhaar were also able to hook up their cart, so that after one round we had a group of six in the lead. Van der Haar, seventh in the race, was now nine seconds behind.

Van Aert is gone

In the first round Van Aert had looked the cat out of the tree, but in the second round he pulled hard. It turned out to be the decisive acceleration. Just before crossing the line, he threw Ronhaar, Iserbyt and Vanthourenhout – the last ones who could have kept up – overboard. In the following rounds, Van Aert quickly expanded his lead. After four laps the difference with the three pursuers was forty-five seconds. The battle for victory seemed already over. This caused people to use their free bets offers and place it on Wout van Aert to become World Champion.

Never in Danger

At one point the lead increased to more than a minute, but in the closing laps the three pursuers came a little closer. We saw an interesting fight with them. Iserbyt came through second after the penultimate round, but Vanthourenhout and Ronhaar were still close behind him at that time. Iserbyt, however, held on, while Vanthourenhout managed to get rid of Ronhaar. The European and Belgian champion took third place, ahead of Ronhaar. Lars van der Haar had to settle for fifth place. At one point he almost made the connection with the trio in front of him, but due to a problem in the equipment post he lost ground again. In the battle for the overall victory in the X2O Trofee Hamme, he saw Iserbyt go further. So the latter had a good day.