Just when it looked like there would be a cyclo-cross battle royale between Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, a rock sparked a puncture for the Belgian, ending his hopes of defeating his eternal rival at X2O Trofee Loenhout-Azencross.
A second puncture, incredibly on the same rock, meant that van Aert finished a despondent tenth, at 1:26, as van der Poel took his sixth win of the winter.
"I wanted to take the initiative, and I succeeded because I got ahead with Mathieu. I had a hard time following him, but I believed I could turn it into a battle. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. It's a shame," van Aert said to the Flemish media beyond the finish line, admitting he was tempted to quit the race after his second puncture.
"I really felt like going to the bus, but I couldn't do that. I only rode for the supporters. I've been coming to this race since I was five years old," van Aert said of what is one of his local races after also riding to the start from his nearby home northeast of Antwerp.
"I cursed really loudly under my breath. It was really frustrating to get a flat tyre twice."
The X2O Trofee Azencross in Loenhout was a fast, dry race, with the holiday crowds out in their thousands. Despite poor starts, both Van Aert and van der Poel soon emerged off the front, setting blistering lap times. The crowd went wild as the possibility of a duel suddenly seemed possible.
Van Aert rode on the front and even seemed to be hurting van der Poel. However, after four of the eight laps, the World Champion surged clear, and it soon became apparent that van Aert had a flat rear tyre.
He was forced to ride most of a lap to get a bike change in the pits, losing 30 seconds to van der Poel and any chance of victory. Van Aert got caught in the traffic of the chasing group. He went clear again, but the second flat saw him fall back again.
"The second time, I punctured on the same rock as the first. I was a real donkey," van Aert joked.
"I spent the last two laps looking for the rock, because I wanted to know where it was. There were just some small stones lying around, and other than that, not many people had problems. I don't understand it."
Van Aert and van der Poel are expected to clash again on January 2 at the Exact Cross in Mol, while van der Poel will also ride the X2O Trofee Baal-GP Sven Nys on New Year's Day.
