Geen vliegmeting zoals vorig jaar. #hamme #echtecross pic.twitter.com/TcoYVgraFz
— Klaas Vantornout (@KlaasVantornout) November 29, 2015
Well, it's muddy enough. Last year, this raced like a road race, there was a twenty-man peloton at one point, and it ended with Wout Van Aert catapulting himself past Van der Poel in a two-up sprint. However, that was in the dry - there was only one forced dismount on the entire course, and that was a set of stairs. Things look different this year however; the course is waterlogged from start to finish, and it'll be especially cut up by the time the Elite women and men get on the course.
This race is in the Bpost Bank Trofee series. A quick reminder of the standings:
| 1. | Wout Van Aert | 1:58:51 |
| 2. | Kevin Pauwels | +0:00:51 |
| 3. | Lars van der Haar | +0:01:00 |
| 4: | Thijs Van Amerongen | +:0:03:12 |
| 5: | Tom Meeusen | +0:03:21 |
| 1. | Jolien Verschueren | 1:30:06 |
| 2. | Nikki Harris | +0:01:40 |
| 3. | Sanne Cant | +0:02:58 |
| 4. | Helen Wyman | +0:03:58 |
| 5. | Ellen Van Loy | +0:04:15 |
Conor's Picks to Win:
A lot depends on Mathieu Van der Poel's form. Does it exist? I'd say he needs another week, so it's going to be the Wout vs Sven show again. My money's on Wout to take revenge for last week's loss. In the women's it's got to be Cant again.