Laurens Sweeck wins alone at GP Leuven

Laurens Sweeck (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) dominated the GP Leuven on Saturday, taking advantage of the absence of many of his rivals who had opted to travel to Tabor early for Sunday’s World Cup race. 

Toon Aerts, Quinten Hermans, Eli Iserbyt and new European champion Lars van der Haar were all absent but Sweeck enjoyed victory in front of his local fans and then flew to Tabor with a morale-boosting victory in his pocket. 

Sweeck, the 2020 Belgian national champion, struck out early on the muddy, technical course and rode away from his rivals, and then managed his lead with poise to win for a second consecutive year. 

Veteran Belgian Tom Meeusen (Deschacht-Group Hens-Containers Maes) used his experience to beat Spanish national champion Felipe Orts (Teika-BH-Gsport) and finish second, 17 seconds behind Sweeck, who celebrated by high-fiving the fans in the finish area.  

Orts was in second place for much of the race but Meeusen managed to pass him in the finale with a spectacular jump across a ditch.