Michael Vanthourenhout won the inaugural Terralba World Cup on Sardinia’s west coast, mastering the flat, sand-heavy lap, striking decisively on the sand section just outside the final kilometre to hold off Joris Nieuwenhuis and Laurens Sweeck by a single second.
The headline surprise: pre-race favourites Nieuwenhuis and Sweeck were both there, but it was Vanthourenhout who turned a five-man tactical stalemate into a winning gap.
Elite Men Results
Marceddì, Terralba - Marceddì, Terralba • Dec 7 • 3.4km
| Pos | Rider | NATNationality | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | Michael VANTHOURENHOUT | BEL | 1:03:17 |
| 🥈 | Joris NIEUWENHUIS | NED | +0:01 |
| 🥉 | Laurens SWEECK | BEL | +0:01 |
| 4 | Ryan KAMP | NED | +0:07 |
| 5 | Niels VANDEPUTTE | BEL | +0:08 |
| 6 | Victor VAN DE PUTTE | BEL | +0:11 |
| 7 | Toon VANDEBOSCH | BEL | +0:13 |
| 8 | Filippo AGOSTINACCHIO | ITA | +0:23 |
| 9 | Mees HENDRIKX | NED | +0:33 |
| 10 | Pim RONHAAR | NED | +0:59 |
| 11 | Joran WYSEURE | BEL | +1:13 |
| 12 | Witse MEEUSSEN | BEL | +1:37 |
| 13 | Wout JANSSEN | BEL | +1:51 |
| 14 | Federico CEOLIN | ITA | +1:56 |
| 15 | Mats VANDEN EYNDE | BEL | +2:12 |
| 16 | Gioele BERTOLINI | ITA | +2:31 |
| 17 | Yordi CORSUS | BEL | +3:12 |
| 18 | David HAVERDINGS | NED | +3:28 |
| 19 | Tommaso FERRI | ITA | +3:34 |
| 20 | Florian GAILLARD | FRA | +4:01 |
| 21 | Samuele SCAPPINI | ITA | +4:28 |
| 22 | Floris HAVERDINGS | NED | +4:36 |
| 23 | Thomas COURCIER | FRA | +4:40 |
| 24 | Antonio FOLCARELLI | ITA | +4:46 |
| 25 | Lorenzo DE LONGHI | ITA | +5:19 |
| 26 | Luca HARTER | GER | - |
| 27 | Carden KING | USA | - |
| 28 | Alan ZANOLINI | ITA | - |
| 29 | Ben FREDERICK | USA | - |
| 30 | Filippo CECCHI | ITA | - |
| 31 | Pietro CAO | ITA | - |
| 32 | Finn WESTOVER | USA | - |
| 33 | Matteo VALENTINI | ITA | - |
| 34 | Frederick JUNGE | USA | - |
| 35 | Marco BRAMATI | ITA | - |
Who shone
- Michael Vanthourenhout – Rode the front group economically all race, then picked the one place a gap could stick: the final sand section, clean exit through the pineta, no mistakes.
- Joris Nieuwenhuis – Controlled pace on the flat coastal drags, stayed top three into every key sand sector, only lacking the final kick to convert positioning into victory.
Who misfired
- Chasing pack — Allowed the lead five too much rope once the move formed, never organising a cohesive rotation on the fast hardpack to bring them back.
Race Analysis
Terralba behaved exactly as previewed: almost no elevation, huge drafting benefit and two sand sectors as the only real selection tools. The sand was wet and messy, but it never became a pure running war of attrition; instead, it was about who could repeatedly hit 20–30 s efforts in sand followed by stairs without errors, then recover in the wheels. Vanthourenhout was not the outright fastest in every phase, but he was the cleanest when it counted.
The five-man front group showed how constraining the layout was: once that move formed, nobody could break it on the flat. Vanthourenhout’s win came less from brute dominance than from understanding that the final sand was effectively the last “climb” of the race – the only place a one-second gap could be created and defended.
Stats that mattered
- Race distance/speed: ~27.9 km in 1:03:17 – about 26.5 km/h.
- Lead-group density: Top 5 separated by just 8 s, with 10th still only +0:59 – underlines how the fast, rideable sand kept the race compact.
- Key selection size: Final winning move reduced to five riders by mid-race acceleration in the sand – nobody else ever regained contact.
What it means
- Vanthourenhout banks a big World Cup haul and slices into Thibau Nys’s early-series lead while Nys sits this one out.
- Nieuwenhuis and Sweeck confirm they are the reference riders on flat, high-speed courses, but both now know they must sharpen final-lap aggression.
- With sand-heavy rounds like Koksijde ahead, Terralba underlines that races may hinge less on raw mud prowess and more on who can time one flawless, all-in effort in rideable sand.
Cover image: Michael Vanthourenhout at the 2024 CX World Championships, credit Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
