The final race of the World Cup of the season was organized in Hoogerheide (The Netherlands) this Sunday. It was the first opportunity for Tormans Cyclo Cross Team to bring four national champions to the start on their brand new Cube Cross Race bikes in national colors.
As the youth races were canceled, Quinten Hermans, Kevin Kuhn, Thomas Mein and Corné Van Kessel were joined by Théo Thomas and Emiel Verstrynge on the start line of the Elite race, with Marie Schreiber racing alongside the world’s best riders in the women’s category. The 18 year old rider from Luxembourg was the first rider of the team to race on the fast circuit and finished 27th.
In the men’s race, Quinten Hermans and Corné Van Kessel had to deal with bad luck. In the race lead, Van der Haar crashed just before the end of the first race half and took Hermans down with him. Also Van Kessel bumped into them at full speed, causing a mechanical just after the pits.
Despite a time loss of 30 seconds, Hermans didn’t give up and battled for fifth place until the end. He eventually finished 7th at the end of the ninth and final lap. Emiel Verstrynge finished 13th, securing a top 15 in all European Elite World Cups this season, just ahead of his teammate Kevin Kuhn. Thomas Mein finished 23rd with the British flag on his shoulders, Théo Thomas crossed the line in 45th place.
After the race, all of them started packing for their trip to the USA, together with yesterday’s winner in the U23 category Joran Wyseure. Their next appointment are the World Championships in Fayetteville.
« I’m really proud to race with my champion’s kit and and custom bike! I couldn’t wait to discover the design of my new Cube Cross Race, as everyone knows the quality of their work! The result is mindblowing, I especially love the details and for example the mention of my name on the top tube. The Prologo bar tape and my new Force helmets and glasses are matching, it’s fantastic. It was nice to show the jersey to the home crowd last weekend before returning to Belgium for the last month of the season. Today, however, I was hoping for better legs. I felt that I couldn’t speed up enough even though I was trying hard. It is probably a consequence of my hard training sessions of the past two weeks, which hopefully will bear fruit next weekend! »
