Briton Sebastian Grindley beats Belgian juniors!

As usual, a lot of strong (inter)national junior teams signed present in Nokere. So the question was whether, like last year, we would also get an international winner.

Many crashes made for a nervous early phase of the race, in which the peloton stayed together for the most part. Real breakaways seemed to have little chance because of the strong wind. Nevertheless, the tough race route did make for selection, with the strongest juniors soon appearing at the front of the peloton.

One and a half kilometres from the finish, Brit Sebastian Grindley finally managed to build up a small lead - thanks to some flawless turns. Belgians Xander Scheldeman and Cedric Keppens still made preparations to ride it out with a strong sprint, but eventually had to settle for second and third place respectively.

The Brit put aside a selection for this year's cyclocross World Cup to focus on the road season. Successfully, as it turned out, as he thus hit the ground running in his first race!