Vanthourenhout takes third ahead of US champion Brunner
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Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal) celebrates his second North American CX World Cup win.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
Men's World Cup Podium: Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal) 1st, Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Fristads) 2nd, Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels-Sauzen Bingoal) 3rd.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
In the post race press conference Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal) said that he did not have a plan for a sprint, the plan was to drop everyone on the Electric Avenue Climb. When Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Fristads) was able to stay with him, Iserbyt let Sweeck lead onto the pavement and was just able to come around him to win his second straight World Cup race.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
Thibau Nys (Baloise Trek Lions) leads a chase group including Eric Brunner (Blue Competition p/b Build), Joran Wyseure (Crelan-Fristads), Daan Soete (Deschacht - Hens - Maes), Niels Vandeputte (Alpecin-Deceuninck) over the barriers during the closing laps of the race.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
Toon Vandebosch (Alpecin-Deceuninck) rolled the dice and attacked the lead group while Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal) looks backwards to see whether or not anyone else is going to come up and help him give chase.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
Midway through the race, the lead group had swelled again to 9 riders as they made their way down through the woods to the lowest part of the course.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
Lance Haidet (L39ion of LA) leads a chase group of 7 riders up the climb from the lowest part of the course. Haidet finished 21st overall.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
UCI officials changed the course during Saturday's UCI World Cup Official training by replacing the steep drop with a shallower line that went around the side of the hill and reconnected with the course near the bottom of the drop. It added a little more cyclocross (and a few seconds) to each lap.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal) rode an aggressive race working hard to stay at or close to the front for the entire race.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
A group of at 12 riders followed Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Fristads) up the 39-step staircase at Centenial Park in Fayetteville.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal) got the inside position to take the Oz Cross UCI Wolrd Cup.(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)
Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) out-sprinted his former teammate Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Fristads) to win the second round of the UCI World Cup in Fayetteville, Arkansas on Sunday.
The Belgian duo repeated for the top two steps on the podium for a second week in a row, the pair going one-two at World Cup Waterloo.
Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), who was fourth in Waterloo, moved up a spot and secured third place. Eric Brunner (Blue Competition Cycles p/b Build) of the United States finished fourth and Thibau Nys (Baloise Trek Lions) was fifth.
“In the sprint I thought it was 80-20, 80 [percent] for Laurens because I know he is a really good sprinter. But I knew it was a headwind and that I had to be in second position,” Iserbyt said about his chances to win a head-to-head sprint against Sweeck.
“I had to dig really deep the second part of the race, so at the end of the race I was a bit at the reserve of my powers. In the sprint I thought it would be all or nothing, and I am happy I can win a sprint,” he added with a laugh to the World Cup broadcast cameras.
Some overnight rains fell in north-west Arkansas to beat down the dust from Friday’s OZ Cross C1 contest. Mild early-fall temperatures and sunshine provided a fast track for the 10 laps on the second round for elite men of the UCI World Cup, which began in Waterloo, Wisconsin the week before.
World Cup leader Iserbyt took the early lead from the hole shot and pounced to the front, with Sweeck riding on his back wheel. Pim Ronhaar (Baloise Trek Lions) appeared to break his chain and was dropped immediately.
Toon Vandebosch (Alpecin-Deceuninck) hammered across the start/finish as the leader to begin the second lap on the dirt, softened slightly from overnight rain but not muddy along the route on Millsap Mountain. He carried a few seconds over Iserbyt and 14 other riders.
On the third lap, an acceleration by Sweeck closed down Vandebosch, but Iserbyt then accelerated to the front of his fellow Belgians. The pace remained high with Vandebosch doing most of the work at the front for the group of 12. Two chasers trying to make contact, 20 seconds back, were Curtis White (Steve Tilford Foundation Racing) and Thijs Aerts (Baloise Trek Lions).
Halfway through the contest the lead group included Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), Daan Soete (Deschacht-Hens-Maes), Sweeck, Iserbyt, Vandebosch, Nys, Brunner, Niels Vandeputte (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Michael Boros (Elkov-Kasper), Joran Wyseure (Crelan-Fristads), Timon Rüegg (Cross Team Legendre) and Vincent Baestaens (Spits CX Team).
Two laps later, 10 riders remained in a front pack, Baestaens and Aerts falling off the pace. Vandebosch and Iserbyt battled at the front, but Iserbyt attacked in the woods on a downhill section. With Vanthourenhout in tow, Iserbyt opened a small gap headed into the technical turns at the bottom of Walmart staircase feature. Sweeck trailed alone in third, but just three seconds back with three laps to go.
Sweeck stayed on the accelerator to catch and pass Vanthourenhout on lap eight. Iserbyt pushed the pace on the big climb yet again to gain a few more seconds. But it wasn’t enough to hold off the duo, and Iserbyt slowed his pace for the trio to regroup.
After the trio came through the start/finish for the final two laps, it was a half a minute back to Brunner, Wyseure, Vandeputte, Nys and Soete. But then Brunner seemed to hit another gear to start the ninth lap, closing the gap to under 15 seconds to the leading threesome in a solo effort.
On the bell lap in Fayetteville, Brunner was still seven seconds back and kept the leaders in sight but could not close down the gap.
Iserbyt went back in front of Vanthourenhout and Sweeck to increase the pace. Once again on the climb, Iserbyt charged again and Sweeck answered by matching the pace, to set up the two-man sprint for a second straight week.
For Brunner, it was one of the best performances on the world stage for a US men's rider in decades.
“It was really a perfect day for me. I was just patient, patient. And as soon as the second group sat up, I hit him through the start/finish with two to go. I stayed away for fourth,” Brunner said at the finish line about his best World Cup result.
“I was just trying to hold off the guys behind me and ended up pulling really close. I didn't expect that but I’m really happy with it. I think, for me, people saw it coming, you just never know when.”
Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. She has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast). Her favorite road and gravel rides are around horse farms in north Georgia (USA) and around lavender fields in Provence (France), and some mtb rides in Park City, Utah (USA).
