Very solid throughout the season in the plowed fields, the rider of the Pauwels Sauzen – Bingoal team showed from the first laps that he would ride for the win. He indeed flew away very quickly with his adventure companion Lauren Sweeckleader of the Cyclocross World Cup and very tough opponent this Sunday.
The two men made the hole without too many problems on the competition notably composed of Thibau Nysexcellent 3rd at the finish, andThat is, Iserbytdropped quickly due to pilot errors and finally 4th.
Vanthourenhout tried several times to let go of Sweeck, distilling acceleration over the laps. The rider from Crelan-Fristads made the elastic many times, especially in the penultimate lap but never let go of the European champion’s coattails.
He finally had to raise the white flag at the end of the effort and in the pouring rain on the last lap of the race, falling a few seconds behind the winner of the day.
Vanthourenhout thus becomes Belgian champion for the first time in his career following collecting two third places. Sweeck must settle for second place following being crowned in 2020.
