The old world champion is also the new world champion. Marianne Vos from the Netherlands dominated the Cyclocross World Championships in Hoogerheide from the start and clearly distanced the Italian Eva Lechner and the British Helen Wyman at the end. Overall World Cup winner Katie Compton had a bad day and didn't finish in the top five.
Shortly after the start, Vos had taken the lead together with Wyman, putting Compton under pressure. While the American made a bad start to the race and, to make matters worse, collided with Pavla Havlikova from the Czech Republic after about half a lap, Hanka Kupfernagel managed to establish himself in the leading group.
However, this group only lasted until the first really technical section. Already here Vos showed that she would not give up her title without a fight. As a result, she managed to continuously increase her lead over the other riders and ultimately win her seventh world championship title in cyclocross.
Lechner in particular surprised behind Vos. At first, the South Tyrolean tried to drive away with Vos, but soon had to pay tribute to the pace. However, she managed to keep Wyman, Belgium's Sanne Cant and Compton at bay. The latter had worked his way up to third place three laps before the end, but then fell back to ninth place. Around the same time, Kupfernagel had to withdraw from the race due to stomach problems.
Elisabeth Brandau was the best German in 16th place. Young Jessica Lambracht also had a good race and ended up 23rd.
The Belgians celebrated a triple success in the juniors. Thijs Aerts, who started the last lap alone, secured the victory. Behind him, Yannick Peeters was second, while Jelle Schuermans relegated Dutchman Joris Nieuwenhuis to fourth. The Czech Adam Toupalik, who was considered a favorite by many before the race, ended the race prematurely. Best German was Ludwig Cords in 35th place.
//Result women
1. Marianne Vos (Netherlands) 0:39:25
2. Eva Lechner (Italy) 0:01:07
3. Helen Wyman (Great Britain) 0:01:17
4. Sanne Cant (Belgium) 0:01:20
5. Nikki Harris (Great Britain) 0:02:33
//Result juniors
1. Thijs Aerts (Belgium) 0:45:55
2. Yannick Peeters (Belgium) 0:00:10
3. Jelle Schuermans (Belgium) 0:00:12
4. Joris Nieuwenhuis (Netherlands) 0:00:13
5. Kobe Goossens (Belgium) 0:00:22