Van Aert wins elite men's race in Essen

Wout Van Aert (Vastgoedservice - Golden Palace Cycling Team) again showed his top form by winning the elite men's race solo at the Bpost Bank Trofee event in Essen, Belgium on Saturday. The young talent beat hometown favourite Tom Meeusen (Telenet Fidea Cycling Team) and his teammate Rob Peeters.

Meeusen was pleased with his second-place performance in front of his fans at home. "The first three laps, Wout and Rob set a really hard pace," Meeusen told Sport.be. "Van Aert won with a serious lead, but when you see how far the field is apart, I should be quite pleased.

"I am very happy that I can finally stand on the podium. I've lived here three kilometers on the trail. There were many supporters there."

Van Aert moved into the lead of the Bpost Bank Trofee series after his winning performance. He now tops the elite men's standings by 1:50 minutes ahead of Sven Nys (Crelan-AA Drink), who placed 13th on the day, and an additional six seconds to third placed Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Napoleon Games). "I'm going to obviously try to defend that lead," he told Sport.be.

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