Van Kessel wins Zilvermeercross

Corné van Kessel (Telenet Fidea Lions) won the Lampiris Zilvermeercross in Mol, Belgium, attacking from an elite lead group with four laps left to run. Van Kessel’s teammates Jim Aernouts and Thijs Aerts completed a Telenet podium sweep with attacks on the penultimate lap.

The race got off to a quick start, with Diether Sweeck (Pauwels Sauzen-Vastgoedservice) among those at the front of the peloton, which was strung-out under the pressure. It didn’t take long for a group to separate themselves from the main pack.

Nine men made up the lead group, but Van Kessel wasn’t satisfied with the pace, heading off alone and quickly building a 10-second gap. David van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) was among those in the chase group, along with two other Telenet Fidea Lions riders in the shape of Aernouts and Aerts.

On the sand section, Aernouts made it up to Van Kessel, while shortly after Tom Meeusen (Corendon-Circus) came from behind to make it a lead trio. Van der Poel was the next to join up, making it two from each team in the lead at the midway point of the race.

Despite saying he didn’t feel good at the start, Meeusen was keen to attack, dropping teammate Van der Poel from the lead group at one point. Van Kessel had more in the tank though, putting in a flying attack to leave the rest behind and build a gap of 14 seconds with three laps to run.

While Van Kessel was on the way to a solo victory, further back the attacking continued. Aernouts broke away from the chasers in a solo bid for second, and later Aerts went on the attack too, making it a Telenet Fidea Lions podium sweep barring disaster on the final lap.

That disaster never came though, much to relief of team manager Sven Nys, and Van Kessel soloed across the line ahead of his two teammates. The Corendon-Circus duo of Van der Poel and Meeusen were the best non-Telenet finishers in fourth and fifth.

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