18-year-old talent makes a name for himself in the Meulebeke cyclocross race, where Vanthourenhout wins

The HG Cross was mainly about Fem van Empel’s return to women’s racing. The Brabant native made a successful comeback, finishing fourth. In the women’s race that morning, the victory went to Marie Schreiber (SD Worx-Protime) of Luxembourg, who finished ahead of Aniek van Alphen and Lucinda Brand.

Among the men were Niels Vandeputte (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen - Altez Industriebouw CT), Felipe Orts Lloret (making his debut for Euskaltel - Euskadi), and the duo from Team Bomba Join — Mees Hendrikx and Ryan Kamp — were among those at the starting line at 4:00 p.m.

Joris Nieuwenhuis (Heizomat-CUBE) was also set to begin his cyclocross season, but due to illness, he ultimately postponed his return by a week.

Cameron Mason (777) got off to the fastest start of the entire pack, with Jente Michels (Alpecin-Premier Tech) hot on his heels. Michael Vanthourenhout, the winner in Dendermonde, struggled a bit at the start of the race.

He, along with the others, had to chase down the leaders. Among them was the barely 18-year-old Giel Lejeune, who finished third at the European Junior Championships earlier this year. Impressive!

Vanthourenhout eventually caught up with Joran Wyseure (Crelan-Corendon), and Lejeune followed suit with Niels Vandeputte and Witse Meeussen.

The first two weren’t exactly happy about that; they immediately picked up the pace again, but couldn’t shake off the others right away. Meanwhile, it started raining heavily again.

A mechanical issue took Wyseure out of the race in the penultimate lap, after which we entered the final lap with six riders. Vanthourenhout pushed hard once again, with Michels hot on his heels. The tall Belgian made no further mistakes and claimed the victory. Lejeune ultimately finished eighth, just behind Ryan Kamp.