Lars van der Haar (Baloise Trek)(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Eli Iserbyt (Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces)(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Lars van der Haar on the run-up(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Laurens Sweeck was able to ride to the top of the sandy climb(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Eli Iserbyt (Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces) added yet another victory to his palmares, taking win number seven of the season at the Superprestige in Ruddervoorde.
The Belgian mowed down Lars van der Haar (Baloise Trek), who had been on the attack for more than half the race but was then slowed by two punctures.
Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Firstads) passed the European champion to take second, with Van der Haar settling for third.
Iserbyt said the win was the least of all of his recent victories.
"My start was very bad. I lost a huge amount of energy in the first two laps. Of course, the rest had also seen that Laurens and I were behind. When I got to the front, I wanted to ride tempo, but there was always someone accelerating. I also made too many mistakes because maybe I had a little too little tire pressure.
"After a bike change I then tried for a moment, but I also didn't want to go too deep with the World Cup cross in Maasmechelen in mind. So then I thought about second place. But after some good turns from Sweeck in the sand and Van der Haar's flat tyre, we got closer. This was the least of all my races. It was a lucky shot in the arm."
It was an unusually warm and dry day for the Superprestige Ruddervoorde and unlike previous races, Van der Haar was relatively slow on the start and the hole shot went to Toon Vandebosch (Alpecin-Deceuninck). The favourable conditions kept the group together until lap three when the cracks finally started to show. Quinten Hermans (Tormans CX) pushed the pace on the second lap to break up the lead group, then Van der Haar put in what looked like the winning move on lap 3.
The European champion looked smooth and steady as he opened up 10 seconds on the chasers, led by Felipe Orts (Burgos-BH). The chasing group was down to five at the midpoint, with Iserbyt and teammate Michael Vanthourenhout, Hermans, Sweeck and Vandenbosch.
Vanthourenhout and Iserbyt took turns surging but didn't close the gap to Van der Haar, instead, they forced Sweeck to burn matches chasing them down.
Sweeck set off in pursuit of Van der Haar with two laps to go, riding the sandy run-up to forge a gap on the chasers, Iserbyt, Hermans and Michael Vanthourenhout (Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces). But Iserbyt still had plenty to give and, having dialled in his equipment after apparent issues in the first laps, almost made it across to Sweeck until the Crelan rider powered over the run-up.
With just over one lap to go, Van der Haar looked down to noticed his rear tyre going soft and Sweeck, sensing the weakness, put in a surge to get across. But he had the World Cup leader Iserbyt close on his wheel and when Sweeck began to make contact, Iserbyt came over the top and bridged the gap alone.
Van der Haar had no answer as Iserbyt surged to the front, his rear wheel now flat as a pannekoeken. Iserbyt led by a handful of seconds at the bell and Van der Haar stayed with Sweeck until he went into the pits to swap bikes and it was too late to challenge for second place.
"It may have been a thriller for you, but for me it sucks," Van der Haar said afterward.
"The first time was bad luck, but the second time was just stupid," he said of the punctures. "You know you have to lift your rear wheel at the end of the bridge, but I'm going full on. My second tire punctured even faster than the first. I had a 90 percent chance of winning, but now it was that 10 percent bad luck."
Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news. As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, paths and gravel tracks. Laura specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.
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