Sand, Wind and Winners: Van der Heijden leads all-Dutch podium as Agostinacchio, Bukovská take European gold
Cyclo-crossSaturday, 08 November 2025 at 19:10
What an opening day in Middelkerke! On the sandy, windswept circuit by the coast, the 2025 European Cyclo-cross Championships sprang to life with three freshly crowned champions.
In the junior women’s race, Barbora Bukovská was untouchable: the Czech rider surged clear early and soloed to gold. Nynke Jochems took a fine silver for the Netherlands, while Nicole Azzetti secured bronze for Italy. The gap at the line underlined Bukovská’s dominance on the Lombardsijde beach.
The men’s U23 event brought a first: Mattia Agostinacchio delivered Italy its maiden European title in the category. The former junior champion picked the perfect moment to attack on the penultimate lap and held firm all the way to the finish. David Haverdings claimed silver for the Netherlands, with Kay De Bruyckere giving the Belgian fans a bronze medal to cheer.
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Big surprise for Inge van der Heijden in Middelkerke
The day wrapped up with the elite women, where Inge van der Heijden confirmed her status as the queen of the sand. The Dutch rider seized the lead in the first sand section and built an unbridgeable advantage. Teammate Lucinda Brand rode to silver, and Aniek van Alphen completed an all-Dutch podium after a late mistake from Sara Casasola. It marked Van der Heijden’s first elite European title.
Conspicuously absent was defending champion Fem van Empel, who had to abandon her bid for a fourth European jersey due to lingering illness — a factor that undeniably shaped the elite race. Still, the course stole the show: natural dunes, long beach stretches and hardly any artificial obstacles turned Middelkerke into a war of attrition, producing three deserving champions.
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Latest Comments
- Now the Palestinian protestors can stop their whining. Trump came to the rescue. So they can now STFU and go back to waving the rainbow flags.raufus15-10-2025
- Cracked the code lol. If it was that easy to 'crack the code' jonny Vegas would be charging up the Kwaremont giving Pog a dose of his medicine. Evenepoel can't match pog on a climb and neither can mvdp. Anything with a half difficult climb and Pog smashes the field. Even on flat(ish)parcours like Roubaix it came down to a mistake and crash by pog to definitively crown mvdp. MSR is the only one that Pog probably won't win.kevpt10-10-2025
- We've seen this movie before. I think Pogacar is doping.DeadBlow10-10-2025
- 👍Bea08-10-2025
- 👌🏻Bea08-10-2025
- What the data doesn't show is how much of an effect drafting had for evenepoel. Pogacar went with del toro at 100km whilst Evenepoel was still in the bunch. Despite the bike changes he still had a lot of assistance getting back to the bunch. Pogacar then rode 60km solo whilst evenepoel rode with Healy/Skjelmose until going solo in thd last 10-15km. Thats ~20% less power / energy requirements for 45-50km. Apples and oranges...kevpt30-09-2025
- 👏👏Bea24-09-2025
- Agreed! As we all know now, Juan Ayuso will be on another team. But it was sweet to see him win the stages at La Vuelta. I do love the drama of cycling admittedly but its clear to see the talent of winners of stages in a Grand Tourryhw2814fq921-09-2025
- Pogacar has no competition he has won everything, I cant imagine even being him in that position!! Crazy. I am sure he has some back up plan for how he wants to spend his retirement years at age 30 onward. Does he like beer? Plenty of innovation in brewing. And you don't have to be super social. Chapeau/Cheers whatever you like Tadej you will do.ryhw2814fq921-09-2025
- Plus its confirmed that the Philadelphia Cycling Classic up the Manayunk Wall is back for 2026! hooray for thatryhw2814fq918-09-2025
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