After a two-year absence due to construction works in the area, the International Cyclo-cross in Contern made its comeback in 2024 and it looked pretty impressive. In the women's race, the starting list was led by one of the best riders in the discipline, Marie Schreiber. The Luxembourg rider seems to have grown even stronger this season and has established herself among the world's very best, as shown by her superb second place in Woerden a few days ago, behind Lucinda Brand but ahead of world champion Fem Van Empel. The national champion did not wait long in bright sunshine and unusually warm weather for an autumn day to kill the suspense in Contern and win easily. In the men's race, however, the favourites and future retirees Corné Van Kessel and Thijs Aerts didn't play the first roles, but the crowd witnessed a thrilling battle between Arne Baers, Théo Thomas and Timothé Gabriel, which the latter won after an exciting finish.

Luxembourg's Tun Sinner got off to the best start among the novices, but two other riders quickly overtook him. Loris Morbé broke away with Belgium's Jules Van Oirbeek, gaining a 30-second lead over Sinner. A little further back was Ben Flemming, followed by a small group including Philipp Irsch, Victor Hourteloup and Yannis Molter. National champion Ben König, meanwhile, was not having his best day and was riding only around tenth place, together with Thibault Hansen. In the women's race, June Nothum quickly took the lead, around thirty seconds ahead of Amy Breuer and Sarah König. In the penultimate lap, Jules Van Oirbeek managed to shake off Loris Morbé and he won the Grand Prix COMAT in the beginners' category, 36 seconds ahead of the Luxembourger. Despite a disappointing 11th place in the day's rankings, Ben König took the Skoda Cross-Cup leader's jersey, which he proudly wore on the podium alongside June Nothum. The young UC Dippach rider consolidated her lead in this consistency challenge with the day's victory in her category and an impressive 14th place in the overall result list with the boys. Amy Breuer finished second in this category, a good minute behind the winner, while her teammate Sarah König was another minute behind Nothum in 18th place.

The two winners in the novice category: Jules Van Oirbeek ahead of June Nothum

More than thirty riders took part in the junior race, with two Frenchmen setting the pace in the first lap. Florian Fery and Gael Guillaume were a few metres ahead of the rest at the exit of the meadow, in front of a group of five riders with Thomas Verdonck, Bas Van Heeswijk, Alexis Bouteloup, Stan Van Looy and Joachim Luijendijk. Luxembourg's Lennox Papi had started the race well and was not far behind, accompanied by another Frenchman, Augustin Fahy. However, the Skoda Cross Cup leader may have overestimated his strength, as he dropped out of the top 10 later and was caught up by Jonah Flammang-Lies. At the front, Fery and Guillaume continued to extend their lead over their five pursuers, who were still together. Shortly after the mid-race, Florian Fery accelerated away and took the lead on his own, while the two Acrog-Thomans riders, Stan Van Looy and Thomas Verdonck, managed to leave their fellow riders behind and were catching up with Gaël Guillaume, who was still in contention for second place. Florian Fery won solo with a forty-second lead over Thomas Verdonck, who was faster in the sprint than his teammate Van Looy and Gaël Guillaume. The latter missed out on the podium despite a very strong race. Jonah Flammang-Lies finished as the top Luxembourger in eleventh place, just under a minute ahead of Yannis Lang in 14th and Lennox Papi in 15th. The Toproad Reiserbann rider remains at the top of the Skoda Cross-Cup standings.

Florian Fery, winner of the Grand-prix COMAT in the junior category

In the women's race, it was all decided very quickly. From the very first metres of racing, Marie Schreiber took control of the race and, after one lap of the circuit, she already had a fifteen-second lead over two trios, the first consisting of Alexe De Raedemaker, Maïté Barthels and Lies'l Schevenels, and the second being formed by Layla Barthels, Gwen Nothum and Laura Piernet. The Luxembourg champion continued to extend her lead, while the suspense remained for the other podium places. De Raedemaker and Schevenels, the two teammates from the Essec Cycling Team, were joined by Lara Defour, Joyce Vanderbeken, who made her traditional comeback after a poor start, and an impressive Gwen Nothum. The rider from Dippach was second Luxembourger in the race at that point, ahead of the Barthels sisters. Shortly after the halfway point, Alexe de Raedemaker managed to break away from her fellow riders and settled into second place, while Gwen Nothum lost some ground to Vanderbeken and Defour, who were still battling it out for the podium. After an impressive solo ride, Marie Schreiber won the COMAT Grand Prix for the second time, after 2021, with a lead of no less than five (!) minutes over Alexe De Raedemaker. Another minute later, Joyce Vanderbeken overtook Lara Defour to take third place on the podium, while Maïté Barthels in fifth finished second among the home riders, ahead of Schevenels, her sister Layla and Gwen Nothum. Laura Piernet finished eleventh as the top junior contender, ahead of Inès Marchesan and Kylie Bintz.

Marie Schreiber dominated the women's race

In the men's elite and U23 race, Arne Baers had the best start. After one lap, last year's winner of the U23 Urban Cross in Kortrijk had a few metres lead over Thijs Aerts, winner here in 2019, Timothé Gabriel and Théo Thomas. Thomas Verheyen was not far behind, followed by Lucas Dubau and another former winner on this same course, Corné Van Kessel. Rick Meylender was the first Luxembourger in the race, around twentieth position, ahead of Ken Conter and Noah Berton. Arne Baers continued his momentum, but the two Frenchmen were not far behind. Gabriel and Thomas had managed to shake off Thijs Aerts and kept the leader in sight. Behind the former junior world champion Aerts, Corné Van Kessel attempted to catch up with the help of young Kenay De Moyer. After half an hour of racing, a front group had formed: Théo Thomas was now leading the race a few metres ahead of Timothé Gabriel and Arne Baers, while Thijs Aerts was still not far behind them. Despite both riders accelerating one after the other, the leading trio remained together until the last lap, some thirty seconds ahead of Aerts. The race was decided in the final few hundred metres. On the technical downhill section of the meadow, Timothé Gabriel proved to be stronger, or more skilful, than his fellow riders and won by a narrow margin of eight seconds ahead of Arne Baers, with Théo Thomas finishing third, twenty seconds behind. Behind Aerts and Van Kessel, Mateo Jot was the best U23 rider in the race in sixth place, just one length ahead of Kenay De Moyer. Rick Meylender finished as the top Luxembourger in twentieth place, three positions and around thirty seconds ahead of Noa Berton. Thanks to his victory, which came on top of his win in Kayl a week ago, Timothé Gabriel also took the lead in the Skoda Cross-Cup standings, ahead of Ken Conter, who finished 25th today.

Théo Thomas, Arne Baers and Timothé Gabriel