Marion Norbert Riberolle (Crelan-Corendon) fought back from an important early crash to clinch the Belgian National Cyclocross Championships with a fine solo win.
A bronze medallist last year, the top favourite battled through snow and thick mud to overtake all her rivals and finish nearly a minute clear of Laura Verdonschot (De Ceuster-Bouwpunt).
After a prolonged duel with Verdonschot, Julie Brouwers (Charles Liégeois Roastery CX) completed the podium.
Sterre Vervloet celebrated after crossing the line as the winner of the women’s U23 title.
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Norbert Riberolle’s lone triumph ends a 15-year run of victories in the Championships for Sanne Cant, soon to retire and who did not take part in the race.
“It was a boxing match at the start. My front wheel was broken, but I thought: I’ll stay calm,” Norbert Riberolle said about her crash. “But it was right at the start and it’s like this every weekend. So I didn’t get that stressed.”
Asked about how it felt to take over as Belgian champion from her trade teammate Cant, she said, “When I see Sanne with a different jersey, it feels very strange. But to become champion after Sanne is super nice and I am also super happy for the team.”
How it unfolded
Racing was delayed by one hour because of the intensely cold weather currently affecting so much of northern Europe. But even so riders still had to plough through snow-covered, muddy ground and handle freezing temperatures for the whole of the five-lap, mist-enshrouded course.
Norbert Riberolle had a very difficult start with an early crash on one of the first bends, all but falling as the 26-year-old collided heavily with a rival and broke three spokes in one wheel. As a result, the former U23 World Champion effectively began the race in 20th spot on a lined-out, fast-shattering peloton, although a rapid bike changeover and effective use of trade teammates to pace her back through her rivals showed the lead favourite was not going to take this setback lightly.
With the pack scattered to the four winds in the difficult racing conditions, Norbert Riberolle found herself a handful of seconds behind a lead group of four riders, from which Alicia Franck and Laura Verdonschot rapidly emerged. However, Norbert Riberolle was quickly regaining momentum and she shot past the De Ceuster-Bouwpunt duo to power into the lead well before the end of the second lap.
With Norbert Riberolle clearly back in command and rapidly rising morale, from hereon the main question was how quickly her advantage would increase, and by the close of lap two, her lone move was already netting her a double-digit gap. Verdonschot remained her closest opponent, though, with Franck dropping back and Julie Brouwers (Charles Liégeois Roastery CX) coming into contention for the podium. But neither the persistent Verdonschot nor Brouwers, in any case, seemed able to handle the pace set by a flying Norbert Riberolle.
Seemingly impervious to the miserable weather and course conditions, and picking her line faultlessly time after time through the churned-up mud ruts and snow drifts, by the end of lap 3, Norbert Riberolle’s gap on the chasing duo was over 30 seconds and she had only herself to beat.
Going into energy-saving mode in such tricky terrain was the ideal option, yet despite playing a conservative game late on, Norbert Riberolle was well on course to adding her first Belgian title to the one taken in France before she switched nationalities in 2021. Coming into the last corner, her advantage was such that she could begin high-fiving the crowd, with that early setback likely only making her third win of the season all the sweeter.
If the battle for gold was effectively a one-rider race for most of the course, the duel for silver was a much more protracted affair between Verdonschot and Brouwers. Finally Verdonschot, despite suffering from a vascular stenosis, was able to repeat her silver of last year, with Brouwers lagging behind on the last lap, a crash putting the 22-year-old definitively out of contention for the runner-up spot.
The same race also saw Sterre Vervloet crowned Belgian U23 Champion, the 21-year-old crossing the line in seventh place, and veteran Joyce Vanderbeken taking another title for the category of elite riders without a contract.
But the biggest question of the day is whether Norbert Riberolle will now dominate the Belgian Nationals in the same way as Sanne Cant did for so long. Only time will tell, of course, but on Saturday in the freezing, snowy conditions of Heusden-Zolder Norbert Riberolle certainly got off to the best of starts.
Results
