Lampaert beats Evenepoel to win men's Belgian time trial title

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Local favourite Yves Lampaert (Deceuninck-QuickStep) captured a second Belgian time-trial title in his hometown of Ingelmunster four years after his first. Lampaert rode 20 seconds faster on the 37.6 km long course than teammate Remco Evenepoel, while Victor Campenaerts was third.

Banners with ‘Allez Yves’ and ‘Forza Lampaert’ were everywhere on the course and the Lampaert fans shouted their hero towards the victory. A post-race party unfolded where coronavirus restrictions were briefly forgotten. On the podium, an emotional Lampaert took on the black-yellow-red tricolor jersey and heard a remix of the national anthem with ‘forza Lampaert’ celebrations.

“It was unbelievable. Ingelmunster was out there to support me. It felt like I was riding at the Tour de France. Winning the title in front of my home crowd is really special. I never believed that I would still be able to beat someone like Remco Evenepoel. Being able to do it here is fantastic,” Lampaert told Sporza in the flash interview.

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Wout van Aert did not defend his Belgian TT-title in Ingelmunster, preferring to stay with the Jumbo-Visma team at their training camp in Tignes. The top favourite was Remco Evenepoel who narrowly beat Lampaert only last week at the Baloise Belgium Tour but on a hot Wednesday afternoon in Lampaert country, Evenepoel was unable to repeat that performance. He kept losing time on Lampaert in every section of the flat course with a few corners and four bridges as main obstacles.

Evenepoel was clearly disappointed when crossing the finish line and when doing the interview with Sporza. “It’s good to see someone from the team take the victory. I preferred to win myself but if I had to grant the win to someone it would be Yves. I made some mistakes on the course in the corners. It showed that I wasn’t going great. It’s a blow. There’s still much work to be done ahead of the Olympics, especially in the long efforts. It’s not the end of the world. Next up is an ice-cream and on Sunday we’re racing again,” Evenepoel told Sporza.

In stark contrast to the disappointment of Evenepoel was the smile on the face of Campenaerts. The world record holder switched focus from the time-trial discipline to the road with a stage win in the Giro d’Italia as recent success. Campenaerts started conservatively and powered away from his rivals for the podium after the first third of the event. He didn’t expect a podium result.

“I’m super satisfied. Before the race I didn’t have much ambition. A top five would earn me some beers. This feels like a victory to me. I’m really happy for Yves, seeing the party with the fans,” said Campenaerts. “He rode like a comet. I now captured every spot on the podium at the Belgian TT championships but not on the road. I think I showed that I can be a good asset for the mixed relay team at the world championships.”

Lampaert admitted that he struggled with the heat but it didn’t prevent him from claiming the tricolour jersey.

“I didn’t feel great but the heat was probably causing that sensation,” Lampaert said. “I really suffered out there but I kept going for the fans. I hoped for second place but I ended up beating Remco and that’s quite an honour for me. In the other races I’m always working 400 per cent for him. I feel like he’s my little brother in the races. Beating him is a super effort. He was keen to win here but so was I.”

Nathan Van Hooydonck clocked the best time in the first wave of riders. He reached the finish in a time of 46:01.2. It was the start of a long afternoon in the hot seat for Van Hooydonck. The crowds then came out to see the big guns despite the heat in Ingelmunster.

Lampaert was the first of the favourites to race and he destroyed the time of Van Hooydonck by more than a minute. Evenepoel was spotted making an error in a sharp left hand corner in the city centre and he lost ten seconds at the first intermediate point.

Nobody else came close to the Deceuninck-QuickStep duo. The time at the second split would show if a thriller was coming up. Evenepoel lost even more time so from there it became obvious that Lampaert was flying on home soil and would not be cracking. At the finish Evenepoel lost a few more seconds on Lampaert. By that time the fans of Yves Lampaert stormed towards their hero to celebrate his title, giving him hugs and lifting him on their shoulders.