Tom Meeusen won the Waasland Cross in Sint-Niklaas after a nice solo ride. This year the cyclo-cross race no longer included in one of the major series which prompted many of the top riders to skip the race. The 27-year-old Telenet-Fidea rider chose differently. Instead, he took full advantage and took his first win of the season. Only Rob Peeters could create some excitement but had to be satisfied with a respectable second place at some distance.

World champion Wout Van Aert was not there, just like Dutchmen Mathieu van der Poel and Lars van der Haar and ultimately Klaas Vantornout. They opted for a day of additional rest in their busy schedule and focus everything on the race on Sunday, the third round of the Superprestige in Ruddervoorde. That created an opportunity for the rest in Sint-Niklaas.

Last year, the victory went to Laurens Sweeck and he was the first rider to leave the tarmac. Unfortunately, he was quickly seen walking due to a chain problem, forcing him to resume his race from the last place and so his chances of winning were got. Nonetheless, he would still finish the race.

The course for this thirteenth edition had some heavy sand sections. Brand new European Champion Toon Aerts set the initial pace but Tom Meeusen, Tim Merlier, Rob Peeters and Jim Aernouts. For Meeusen, it was not fast enough and after 15 minutes the Telenet-Fidea started a solo adventure.

Halfway into the race, Rob Peeters was getting closer and with four laps to go, he was eight seconds behind Meeusen. The group Vanthourenhout-Aerts-Pauwels was already more than half a minute further back, and so it became a battle between Meeusen and Peeters.

Meeusen, however, remained unperturbed by the sand and quickly extended his lead to fifteen seconds. Peeters started to fade and so Meeusen was heading for his first win of the season. In the last straight line, a clearly relieved Meeusen had time to celebrate with his fans. Rob Peeters was second while Toon Aerts took third place for Telenet-Fidea. Fourth place was for Dieter Vanthourenhout.

Result

1. Tom Meeusen

2. Rob Peeters

3. Toon Aerts

4. Dieter Vanthourenhout

5. Tim Merlier

6. Michael Vanthourenhout

7. David van der Poel

8. Jens Adams

9. Jim Aernouts

10. Gianni Vermeersch