Michael Vanthourenhout won the gold medal at Cyclocross World Championships, in Tabor (Czech Republic). A week after the overall success in the Cyclocross Under23 World Cup, the Belgian prospect dominated the Worlds' Under 23 race claiming an impressive "double" on Sunday February 1st.

Vanthourenhout moved on the attack in the third lap dominating the race until the finishing line. The Sunweb-Napoleon Games youngster preceded another Belgian athlete, Laurens Sweeck (0:10) and the Dutchman Stan Godrie (0:14).

"It's great to stand here as the champion. On a very technical course, I knew there was no room for mistakes. Almost every lap I hopped and only in the final lap I added a bit more security to make sure I didn't crash", Vanthourenhout said.

In the Elite race, won by Mathieu Van der Poel (Netherlands) ahead of Wout Van Aert (Belgium) and fellow Dutchman Lars Van der Haar, three more Northwave's athletes entered the day's top-10: Belgian National Champion Klaas Vantornout claimed a fifth place, whilst his teammate Gianni Vermeersch and Marco Aurelio Fontana (Italy) placed seventh and tenth respectively.