Cycling · International
Nys and Van Empel win close Benidorm World Cup races
Nys attacked on the final lap, while Van Empel secured a third consecutive Benidorm victory on 19 January.
Event date:
Nys finds space late in the men’s race
Thibau Nys won the men’s Benidorm World Cup on 19 January after a final-lap attack on the asphalt section. The high pace had kept a sizeable leading group together through much of the race. An earlier move by Nys failed to open a lasting gap, and Michael Vanthourenhout also tried to escape. Lars van der Haar and Eli Iserbyt gained a small advantage before the penultimate lap, but Wout van Aert’s chase brought Nys back to them. Iserbyt then drove the final lap before Nys accelerated past him. Van Aert could not close the move, and Nys reached the finish first.
Van Empel keeps her Benidorm sequence intact
Fem van Empel earned her third consecutive victory at Benidorm in a women’s race that also remained unsettled late. Lucinda Brand increased the pressure on the third lap, with Van Empel, Blanka Vas and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado among the riders responding. Alvarado lost contact on the asphalt in the fourth lap, yet the field regrouped: ten riders were together on the penultimate circuit, including Marie Schreiber and Marianne Vos. The final lap reduced the contest to Brand and Van Empel at the front. Van Empel passed Brand at the barriers, entered the closing sprint ahead and held her position. Brand finished second, while Luxembourg’s Schreiber took third after emerging from the larger chasing group.
Small margins across the classifications
The organizer’s official results list Nys’ winning time as 56 minutes 31 seconds. Iserbyt finished three seconds behind and Van der Haar four seconds back. Van Empel’s women’s winning time was 47 minutes 54 seconds; Brand received the same recorded time, with Schreiber two seconds behind. The programme also included younger categories. Tibor Del Grosso won the men’s under-23 race in 50:18, ahead of Jente Michels and Aubin Sparfel. Lise Revol took the junior women’s race in 42:07, followed by Rafaelle Carrier and Mae Cabaca. Mattia Agostinacchio won the junior men’s event in 36:57. These were separate race classifications, showing that the Benidorm meeting extended beyond its two elite headline contests.
Van Aert’s recovery ends short of the podium
Van Aert’s team report confirmed fourth place for the previous year’s Benidorm winner. He arrived from a training camp after wins at Gullegem and Dendermonde, but described a difficult start and a long effort to reach the front. He felt that chase midway through the race and lacked the power to answer Nys’ final acceleration. The team also identified limited overtaking opportunities as a feature of the course. Those comments provide the rider’s account of his own performance rather than an alternative official classification. The photograph accompanying this report shows Toon Aerts racing in the same men’s World Cup on 19 January; it documents the event without suggesting that Aerts was its winner.
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