Thibau Nys (Baloise Trek Lions) emerged victorious at the Overijse round of the Superprestige after a thrilling battle with Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal).
The two Belgians traded blows for the final three laps of the gruelling circuit, and while Iserbyt was more than a match on the early climb over mud and cobbles, Nys had the edge through the more technical sections, and on the final laps he managed to tease open the cracks he’d found on the previous laps.
Iserbyt had looked to hit him on those uphill cobbles but Nys took back control ahead of the series of technical sections in the middle of the circuit, getting a gap as he dived downhill through the woods, before extending it on a muddy hairpin that he ran from start to finish - a tactic Iserbyt had begun to copy having lost ground there two laps previously.
Iserbyt attempted to fight back in the latter part of the circuit but the damage was done and Nys held firm to celebrate his first win of a cyclo-cross campaign that had been delayed by illness. Iserbyt crossed the line two seconds down, with Lars van der Haar (Baloise Trek Lions) emerging as the best of the rest to clinch the final spot on the podium at four seconds.
"I have the feeling I still need to wake up because I am living a dream for the moment," Nys said. "People don't realise how difficult the last two weeks have been.
"I've been looking forward to the cyclo-cross season all summer so to miss out on the final weeks of preparation due to illness... being far from my level... it's so difficult to keep the confidence when you never have the great feeling in training or races. This was a mental game."
Nys, who opened his campaign with 13th at Exact Cross Beringen and then 12th at the opening round of the Superprestige in Ruddervoorde last weekend, suffered another set-back within the race itself in Overijse, when he was forced to stop and fix a mechanical on the third of the eight laps. A strong seven-man group was only just forming when he slipped out on a technical mud section and compounded the problem by running his rear mech into a wooden post, forcing him to re-string his jammed chain.
His head might have dropped but instead he calmly made his way back to the group within the space of a lap. Not only that, but he soon came through and led the chase of European champion Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), who'd launched a solo attack. Nys hit it again on the climb on the fifth lap, by the end of which the group of seven were back together, the other members being Iserbyt, Vanthourenhout, Van der Haar, plus David Haverdings (Baloise Trek Lions) and the Alpecin-Deceuninck duo of Niels Vandeputte and Jenthe Michels.
Lap six was where Nys and Iserbyt went away, Nys this time tracking the assault from his compatriot on the early climb before easing past and zipping clear with his decision to run up that muddy hairpin. Vandeputte put in an impressive lap to hang onto their coattails but on the penultimate lap the climb was telling once more as Nys and Iserbyt eased clear. Likewise, the uphill muddy hairpin was telling, with Iserbyt copying the early dismount but stumbling and losing a couple of seconds once again.
The pair crossed the line only just ahead of Vandeputte and a resurgent Van der Haar, but it still felt like a two-horse race, and so it proved as they hit the crucial early climb for the final time. Nys led up the muddy section, before Iserbyt tried to counter on the cobbles, but they were well-matched. Nys succeeded in nipping through to lead through the technical sections, which included a twisting 'carousel', that muddy hairpin, and a fast run down through the woods where Nys had consistently looked more sure-footed on the off-cambers.
Those superior lines gave him a small margin, which Iserbyt couldn't stitch back together despite his best out-of-the-saddle efforts out of the corners that remained. And so it was for Nys to nip down onto the tarmac, beat his chest, call for calm, and point to the sky as he crossed the line.
Last week's surprise winner Joran Wyseure (Crelan-Corendon) produced a remarkable late charge to finish fifth, despite not being among the running for most of the race, to remain at the top of the overall Superprestige standings, tied on 26 points with Vandeputte, who was fourth on the day.
Results
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