Antwerp delivered two races that felt connected by the same theme: the sand never stops asking questions, and the smallest problem becomes a minute-long story. In the men’s race, Mathieu van der Poel made the answers look simple, riding away early and turning the fifth World Cup round into a long, controlled demonstration. In the women’s race, Lucinda Brand had to fight for every metre, grinding out a tight win over Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado in one of the most entertaining duels of the winter so far.
For Wout van Aert, returning to cyclocross in front of a huge Belgian crowd, the day landed somewhere in between: enough to believe in, and just enough bad luck to keep him waiting for the result his legs hinted at.
Men’s race: Van der Poel solos early as Van Aert’s comeback derailed by a puncture
The build-up was obvious. Antwerp was the first meeting of the winter between Van der Poel and Van Aert, with both starting from the third row on a start grid built around UCI points and early-season ‘cross form. It took barely two laps for the race to tilt decisively towards the world champion.
Van der Poel was sharp from the opening exchanges, moving up quickly as the front reshuffled through the first sandy sectors. The course changes, with a wider start straight and heavy sand emphasis, were supposed to reward riders who could position well and ride the loose sections cleanly. That is precisely where Van der Poel began to separate himself. He pressed on lap two, forced small gaps that became real gaps, and soon it was clear the rest were racing for second.
Behind him, the chase group briefly looked like it could settle into something organised. Laurens Sweeck, Emiel Verstrynge, Tibor Del Grosso, Joris Nieuwenhuis and Van Aert were all present at different moments, with riders taking turns at the head of the chase as the sand repeatedly snapped the elastic. Van Aert, in particular, did the hard work you would expect from a rider racing himself into form, moving up, holding position, then closing small gaps when the pace stalled.
Halfway through, it genuinely looked like a podium was realistic. Van Aert was third at one point and within single-digit seconds of Sweeck. Then the puncture hit, and the race changed in an instant. Forced to ride on a flat before reaching the pits, he lost track position and time in one go, tumbling out of the podium fight and into damage-control mode.
Photo Credit: GettyFrom there, the ride became an exercise in salvage, but also a warning shot for what comes next. Van Aert clawed time back with faster laps than the riders ahead of him and began the final lap within striking distance of the podium group. In the end, the deficit was too much to fully erase, and he eased off slightly in the closing sections, coming home seventh.
Team Visma | Lease a Bike framed it as a return full of encouragement. Van Aert said: “The first one is out of the way. Above all, I’m tired afterwards, because it remains a very demanding discipline. It looked like I had a chance at the podium, but unfortunately the puncture set me back. My legs are at a good level. Beforehand, I hoped I would come away from this race with the feeling I have now. There’s still work to do on the technical side, and I hope to improve that in the coming weeks. This was a nice cross to start with. Today’s efforts will help me reach a higher level again. It was great to be back.”
He also underlined just how unforgiving the discipline remains when you return mid-winter. “The sport is as hard as it always has been,” he said after the finish. “I suffered from the first minute. I was in the mix for the podium before a flat tyre ruined that result. Overall, a good feeling.”
At the front, Van der Poel was never dragged into a duel. He had the freedom of Antwerp’s long sand lanes and used it ruthlessly, disappearing into his own race and leaving the rest to negotiate the shifting battle behind. Sweeck eventually shook free of the chase group to secure second, with Verstrynge completing a strong day for Crelan-Corendon in third.
2025 World Cup Antwerp Men result
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Photo Credit: GettyWomen’s race: Brand wins another close Antwerp duel as Alvarado’s comeback gathers momentum
If the men’s race was about separation, the women’s race was about re-connection. Groups formed, broke, re-formed, then broke again, with the sand and the pace constantly changing the shape of the contest. It never felt stable, and that instability is exactly what made it so good.
Aniek van Alphen began the day as the World Cup leader, only one point ahead of Brand, and she rode like a rider protecting something valuable. Amandine Fouquenet again produced a fast start, while European champion Inge van der Heijden and Van Alphen were prominent early in the sand, taking advantage of their ability to stay smooth when others were already forced into half-running efforts.
Brand, unusually, had to work into the race. Once she found her rhythm, the dynamic shifted. The big names began to gather at the front and, by the second lap, the race had pulled into a stacked lead group that included Brand, Alvarado, Van Alphen, Van der Heijden, Shirin van Anrooij and Puck Pieterse, with Kristýna Zemanová also featuring in the mix.
The key moment came around the fourth lap, when Brand and Alvarado began to separate themselves in a more meaningful way. Pieterse had strong passages in the sand but could not sustain it all the way through, and the battle narrowed into the match-up the race deserved: Brand’s relentless strength and control against Alvarado’s sharpness, technique and ability to keep coming back.
Alvarado’s presence carried extra weight. After two weeks of flu and a withdrawal in Terralba, she arrived with uncertainty and left with proof. She admitted the doubts were real before the start. “I had a few difficult weeks behind me,” she said. “Today, I was a bit stressed because I didn’t know how it would be. In the end it was a very good day.”
The final laps were a sequence of pressure, small errors, and immediate responses. Brand took the bell with an advantage, made a couple of mistakes, and suddenly Alvarado was in front and the race was there to be stolen. That was the tension of it: Brand looked like the strongest rider in the field, but Antwerp’s sand punishes even the strongest when fatigue scrambles precision.
Brand eventually reasserted herself when it mattered most, forcing her way back to the front late and holding the narrow margin to win by two seconds. Van Alphen finished third, 16 seconds down, and in doing so handed Brand the World Cup lead overall.
Brand summed up the effort in the blunt language of someone who knows exactly what a sand finale costs. “It was a very tough finale. It started really early today, already in the middle of the race it was very hard. I had lactate everywhere,” she said, while also crediting Alvarado for making it a genuine fight. “Ceylin was flying today. This course suits her with all those corners. She’s a real finisher, if she gets a chance, she takes it straight away. It’s really nice to race finals like this.”
Alvarado, meanwhile, was realistic about what the sickness had taken out of her, even as she pushed Brand all the way to the line. “Towards the end of the race, I was very tired,” she said. “I had to hope for a mistake or something from her, which made my chances a little bigger. But even then, I knew it was going to be difficult.”
It was also, crucially, a performance that changes what comes next. With the Kerstperiode now fully underway, Alvarado leaves Antwerp with momentum, while Brand leaves with another win, another statement, and the World Cup lead.
2025 World Cup Antwerp Women result
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