What an intense and exciting series of kerstperiode races these past few days. Once again, we got another battle between the Big Three.
The Big Three put on quite a show for the night race. Once again, they did not disappoint. This time around, it was an intense duel between Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) for first.
It was a close race between van Aert and Pidcock. However, Pidcock made a last-minute error in the last corner and van Aert took advantage of that to gain a slight lead. This decision led him to victory after an exhaustive battle with Pidcock. With 2022 Zolder and now 2022 Diegem under his belt, Van Aert is currently on a two-race win streak with the chance of three in a row in Loenhout.
View this post on Instagram
Pidock led off with a strong start and managed to create a small gap between his rivals. This led Van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin – Deceuninck) to give chase.
However, his advantage slipped once they reached the sand pit. Van der Poel gained a slight advantage ahead of the trio. Pidcock caught back up on the pavement and nearing the last lap, gained his second wind and left Van der Poel behind.
View this post on Instagram
Van der Poel had put on a great show and was a major threat during the sand pits. Van der Poel managed 15 to 20 meters ahead of his rivals at every sand pit. However, both rivals recovered and regained the lost distance on the pavement after.
Van der Poel however, was left behind when both Van Aert and Pidcock caught the Dutch star and counterattacked. MVDP will have to settle for the third slot on the podium.
It’s P3 for @mathieuvdpoel in Diegem after another battle between the three CX stars. “I played my cards but in the end I just didn’t have the legs to win”, said MVDP.
👏 for your fighting spirit though! #AlpecinDeceuninck pic.twitter.com/Ns5kYog5TA
— Alpecin-Deceuninck Cycling Team (@AlpecinDCK) December 28, 2022
Just like in 2022 Gavere, we had another Big Three podium picture.
Na een bloedstollend duel is het @WoutvanAert die zegeviert! 🥇 Samen met 🌈 wereldkampioen Pidcock en Van der Poel maakte hij er een echte spektakelcross van in #SPDiegem! 👏 #Superprestige2023 pic.twitter.com/0GDWZwrLHB
— SuperprestigeCX (@SuperprestigeCX) December 28, 2022
Shoutouts to all the North Americans that attended the race.
Seven Americans attended the race.
- Eric Brunner finished 21st.
- Caleb Swartz got 43rd.
- Brannan Fix came in 47th.
- Andrew Dillman got 53rd.
- Ben Frederick finished in 66th.
- Jonathan Anderson got 77th.
- Casey Hildebrandt finished 80th.
Three Canadians attended the race.
- Evan Russell got 61st.
- Cody Scott finished 76th.
- Alexander Woodford came in 83rd.
Check out over seven minutes of highlights provided by All Cycling.
See full results below.
2022 Superprestige Diegem Results - Elite Men
| Position | Name | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VAN AERT Wout | 1:00:46 | |
| 2 | PIDCOCK Tom | 0:06 | |
| 3 | VAN DER POEL Mathieu | ALPECIN - DECEUNINCK | 0:33 |
| 4 | ISERBYT Eli | PAUWELS SAUZEN - BINGOAL | 1:08 |
| 5 | VANTHOURENHOUT Michael | PAUWELS SAUZEN - BINGOAL | 1:45 |
| 6 | VAN DER HAAR Lars | BALOISE TREK LIONS | 1:55 |
| 7 | HERMANS Quinten | TORMANS CYCLO CROSS TEAM | 2:00 |
| 8 | NYS Thibau | BALOISE TREK LIONS | 2:29 |
| 9 | HAVERDINGS David | BALOISE TREK LIONS | 2:56 |
| 10 | KUHN Kevin | TORMANS CYCLO CROSS TEAM | 2:59 |
| 11 | SWEECK Laurens | CRELAN - FRISTADS | 3:01 |
| 12 | MEIN Thomas | HOPE FACTORY RACING | 3:02 |
| 13 | VERSTRYNGE Emiel | CRELAN - FRISTADS | 3:06 |
| 14 | KAMP Ryan | PAUWELS SAUZEN - BINGOAL | 3:11 |
| 15 | MASON Cameron | TRINITY RACING CROSS | 3:16 |
| 16 | VANDEBOSCH Toon | ALPECIN - DECEUNINCK | 3:56 |
| 17 | SOETE Daan | DESCHACHT - HENS - MAES | 4:00 |
| 18 | VANDEPUTTE Niels | ALPECIN - DECEUNINCK | 4:13 |
| 19 | ORTS LLORET Felipe | 4:21 | |
| 20 | BERTOLINI Gioele | SELLE ITALIA - GUERCIOTTI - ELITE | 4:28 |
| 21 | BRUNNER Eric | 4:32 | |
| 22 | VENTURINI Clément | 4:41 | |
| 23 | ROUILLER Loris | CROSS TEAM LEGENDRE | 5:10 |
| 24 | KIELICH Timo | CRELAN - FRISTADS | 5:11 |
| 25 | MASCIARELLI Lorenzo | PAUWELS SAUZEN - BINGOAL | 5:12 |
| 26 | DE VET Sander | 5:22 | |
| 27 | BOROS Michael | 5:34 | |
| 28 | SUAREZ FERNANDEZ Kevin | NESTA - MMR CX TEAM | 5:43 |
| 29 | VANDERLINDEN Lukas | PAUWELS SAUZEN - BINGOAL | 5:54 |
| 30 | BARNES Toby | 6:15 | |
| 31 | HORNY Clément | 6:58 | |
| 32 | BOMMENEL Nathan | AS BIKE RACING | |
| 33 | VANICEK Simon | ||
| 34 | VERVOORT Wout | ||
| 35 | GROSLAMBERT Martin | ||
| 36 | STRANSKY Matej | ||
| 37 | VERMEERSCH Gianni | ALPECIN - DECEUNINCK | |
| 38 | VAN DER POEL David | ALPECIN - DECEUNINCK | |
| 39 | BARNES Daniel | TEAM SPECTRA WIGGLE P/B VITUS | |
| 40 | INGUANZO MACHO Gonzalo | ||
| 41 | GRAS Yan | PODIOCOM CX | |
| 42 | SWARTZ Caleb | ||
| 43 | LEQUET Corentin | AS BIKE RACING | |
| 44 | RIMAN Jakub | ||
| 45 | DORIGONI Jakob | ||
| 46 | FIX Brannan | ||
| 47 | DE MOYER Kenay | CROSS TEAM LEGENDRE | |
| 48 | HAMM Florian | ||
| 49 | HARTER Luca | ||
| 50 | SUAREZ FERNANDEZ Alain | NESTA - MMR CX TEAM | |
| 51 | VERMOOTE Jelle | TORMANS CYCLO CROSS TEAM | |
| 52 | DILLMAN Andrew | ||
| 53 | JUNQUERA SAN MILLAN Mario | UNICAJA BANCO-GIJON | |
| 54 | UPTEGROVE Pete | ||
| 55 | OPPIZZI Matteo | ||
| 56 | GILLES Cyprien | ||
| 57 | JOT Matéo | ARDENNES CROSS TEAM GECIBAT | |
| 58 | PEREZ SERDIO Julio | ||
| 59 | KOCKELMANN Raphaël | ||
| 60 | RUSSELL Evan | ||
| 61 | GASSNER Michael | ||
| 62 | DANIEL Thibault | TEAM FIMA - RDV BIKESHOP ALIAN | |
| 63 | COUKHAM Joe | ||
| 64 | BECKINGSALE Joseph | ||
| 65 | FREDERICK Ben | ||
| 66 | COUZENS Tom | ||
| 67 | BARD Nicolas | ||
| 68 | ANANIE Ugo | ||
| 69 | JØRGENSEN Mikkel | ||
| 70 | PASQUET Audric | ALBI VELO SPORT LEROY MERLIN TEAM CROSS | |
| 71 | MARD Filip | ||
| 72 | BAGOU Guillaume | TEAM MOTRIO SAFIR GANOVA | |
| 73 | POMIAN Szymon | ||
| 74 | SCOTT Cody | ||
| 75 | TRAN VAN Antoine | ALBI VELO SPORT LEROY MERLIN TEAM CROSS | |
| 76 | ANDERSON Jonathan | ||
| 77 | CHISHOLM Sam | ||
| 78 | HILDEBRANDT Casey | ||
| 79 | PAINS Xavier | TEAM FIMA - RDV BIKESHOP ALIAN | |
| 80 | HEIGL Philipp | ||
| 81 | JAMES Steven | HOPE FACTORY RACING | |
| 82 | WOODFORD Alexander | ||
| 83 | NOLAN Sean | ||
| 84 | LAVIGNAC Matthieu | ALBI VELO SPORT LEROY MERLIN TEAM CROSS | |
| 85 | NASH Tristan | ||
| 86 | GONZALEZ SANCHEZ Daniel | UNICAJA BANCO-GIJON | |
| 87 | NYSTROM SPENCER Felipe Timoteo | ||
| DNF | HUYBS Ward | BALOISE TREK LIONS | |
| DNF | MENUT David | AS BIKE RACING | |
| DNF | GODRIE Stan | ||
| DNF | CORTJENS Ryan | ALPECIN - DECEUNINCK |
