Love it or hate it, but the Turbo Cross in Diegem was certainly a great success. The online interest in the amateur race was so high that the Sporza servers struggled to keep up. And that in itself is quite an achievement.
Let's take a small jump back in time (though it's not that long ago): Belgian YouTuber Average Rob is incredibly popular, both within and outside Belgium. His YouTube channel has more than 400,000 subscribers for a reason. He recently made a video featuring Mathieu van der Poel, the Dutchman from Alpecin-Deceuninck, teaching Robert Van Impe - the real name of Average Rob - all about mountain biking, after they made a cyclo-cross video about two years earlier.
Average Rob was keen on participating in a real cyclo-cross race and thus approached the organization of the evening cyclo-cross in Diegem. Initially, he was turned down, but after numerous regulatory detours, he finally succeeded. Almost immediately after this news, the Flemish challenged his northern neighbor Bas Tietema - also a YouTube phenomenon - to participate in the so-called Turbo Cross, which would be organized between the elite men's and women's races. Following Tietema, other well-known figures from various sectors also decided to participate. For example, on December 28, national coach and former pro Sven Vanthourenhout (more about him later), YouTube personality Nathan Vandergunst (Acid), and former pro footballer Jelle Van Damme also made an appearance.
After a long wait, Thursday night finally saw the Turbo Cross, consisting of two laps. Most eyes were on Tietema and Rob, who looked ahead to what was coming before the spectacle. "I'm obviously a bit more relaxed now than when I had to race for real," the man from Zwolle told IDLProCycling.com in a one-on-one conversation. "But somewhere I'm also a bit nervous, because this is the first time I'm riding a cyclo-cross bike (on the bike of Lander Loockx, ed.)." His preparation? "I've been running, paddleboarding, and playing football," he laughed heartily. His goal? "For me, the most important thing is to finish ahead of Rob. That's what it's all about. I have no illusions of finishing ahead of someone like Sven Vanthourenhout."
Tietema's rival, the 31-year-old internet sensation, was equally excited about the challenge. "I had some pasta, following Sven Nys' advice," he mentioned. "The atmosphere is incredible. It's almost surreal, a regular guy like me getting to experience this. It might never happen again, so I'm extremely grateful to the organizers for letting me participate," he expressed, ready to race with his notably unshaven legs. "I'm not overly competitive!" he joked during the interview, which then shifted focus to cyclo-cross king MVDP. "I didn't get any tips from Mathieu, but I heard he's thrilled we're participating." And that was indeed the case. "I'm planning to watch, probably from the bus on TV. The race could go any direction, given the wide range of talent," Van der Poel commented after checking out the course.
In the end, it was Vanthourenhout who, as expected, came out on top in the much-discussed race. He defeated former cyclo-cross rider Angelo De Clercq and ex-footballer Van Damme. "I felt like I had the best technique in cyclocross," the winner said afterward. "I felt in control, though the competition was tough." And what about the battle between Tietema and Rob? The Belgian came out ahead, finishing well before Tietema. What followed was a series of playful banter between them.
Nonsense or just fun? That seemed to be the most common question regarding the Turbo Cross. Opinions were divided. Men weighing over 130 kilograms on a bike: was that really necessary? Undoubtedly, the younger audience - many of them fans of Average Rob - was extremely interested in what the man from Overijse would do in Diegem. An impressive 400,000 people (!) tuned in online to the Sporza stream. In fact, there were so many viewers that the stream occasionally crashed. The servers could barely handle it. "Thanks everyone for watching," Van Impe expressed his gratitude on X.