Wout van Aert (Vastgoedservice-Golden Palace) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
After winning the elite men's race at the UCI World Cup in Koksijde on Saturday, Wout Van Aert (Vastgoedservice - Golden Palace Cycling Team) claimed the under-23 men's victory at the Superprestige Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday in Belgium. He won the race ahead of Michael Vanthourenhout (Sunweb - Napoleon Games Cycling Team) and Toon Aerts (Telenet Fidea Cycling Team).
Van Aert flatted during the crucial final laps of the race but recovered from the mechanical and then jumped on the circuit's final climb in pursuit of the lone escapee, Vanthourenhout.
"At one point I was 40 seconds behind Michael," Van Aert said in a post-race interview with the race organisation. "I had a flat tire three laps from the end, just after the pit. Double bad luck. Triple actually, because it was both a front and rear puncture.
"For a moment I thought it was over, but two laps from the end I had gained back 10 seconds. I knew that I could close the gap systematically and when riding up the final climb, I threw in my last effort."
Results
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Results
#
Rider Name (Country) Team
Result
1
Wout Van Aert (Bel) Vastgoedservice - Golden Palace Cycling Team
0:51:59
2
Michael Vanthourenhout (Bel) Sunweb - Napoleon Games Cycling Team
0:00:19
3
Toon Aerts (Bel) Telenet Fidea Cycling Team
0:01:23
4
Jens Vandekinderen (Bel) Telenet Fidea Cycling Team
0:01:58
5
Yorben Van Tichelt (Bel) Sunweb - Napoleon Games Cycling Team
0:02:00
6
Quinten Hermans (Bel) Telenet Fidea Cycling Team
0:02:09
7
Stan Godrie (Ned) Rabo - Giant Offroad Team.
0:02:18
8
Nicolas Cleppe (Bel) Telenet Fidea Cycling Team
0:02:30
9
Jonas Degroote (Bel) Lares - Doltcini Cycling Team
0:02:40
10
Diether Sweeck (Bel) Corendon - KwadrO Cycling Team
