Expecting a podium finish or even a victory would have been a little too much for Jolanda Neff's World Cup debut in cyclo-cross. The fact that she has to start from the back row alone makes things considerably more difficult. Nevertheless, she does remarkably well and shows a brilliant race to catch up right from the start. The cross-country world champion works her way up to ninth place and even sets the third-best lap time on the Koksijde sand track on the fourth lap. But then Neff lost a few places again. In the end, she finished in a respectable 14th place.

She has nothing to hide, as she has proven with some fast lap times that she is also fast on narrow tires. With a better starting position, she should soon make it into the top 10, and with a little continuity and experience, perhaps even into the top five this season. Neff will have her next opportunity on December 17 at the World Cup in Namur, Belgium. The Thaler is skipping the World Cup races in Denmark and Germany in favor of her studies.

Third victory for Van der Poel - "partially" disappointed Swiss

In the men's elite race, Mathieu Van der Poel, who chased down Nino Schurter in Albstadt, rides to his third World Cup victory in a row. The young Dutchman rode to a lead of over a minute on the notorious sandy course, was able to slow down a little at the end and still won by 39 seconds ahead of his compatriot Lars Van der Haar and Belgian Wout Van Aert. With his third victory in a row, Van der Poel already has a one-race points lead in the overall standings. After the third of nine World Cup races, this is by no means a preliminary decision, but gives him a valuable cushion on the way to a possible overall victory.

Things are less rosy for the Swiss elite riders. Simon Zahner is the best Swiss rider in 28th place, while the second Swiss rider at the start, Severin Sägesser, has a bad day and finishes the race in 40th place. Marcel Wildhaber is not at the start for a good reason. Due to upcoming paternity leave, he will not start in Koksijde.

The results for the Swiss U23s and juniors are also more pleasing: Timon Rüegg finished 13th in the U23s, while his teammate Kevin Kuhn came 15th. Loris Rouiller finished seventh in the U19s.

Ranking lists WC Koksijde/BEL