Published October 13, 2021 08:32PM
Quinten Hermans (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) nabbed his first-ever Cyclocross World Cup victory on Wednesday’s second round of the series in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The 26-year-old Belgian took a convincing win 37 seconds ahead of Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), with Iserbyt’s teammate Michael Vanthourenhout rounding out the podium in third.
Riding through pouring rain, Hermans, Iserbyt, Vanthourenhout, and Toon Aerts (Baloise Trek Lions) formed a lead group that enjoyed a decent advantage by the second of seven laps. Hermans moved clear in the third lap, however, and hardly looked back from there, gaining more and more time on the ensuing laps on a muddy course that will host the world’s top cyclocross racers again next year at the world championships.
He would hold on to celebrate his biggest cyclocross result yet with no one in sight on the finishing straight. Iserbyt would arrive 37 seconds later with Vanthourenhout a further 12 seconds behind his teammate.