Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen - Cibel Clementines) edged out Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ridley) by half a bike length to take victory at the opening round of the Superprestige series at Ruddervoorde.
Vanthourenhout won a heated battle for position in a small lead group on the final lap, taking an inside line to overtake Nieuwenhuis on the uphill sandpit and holding his lead through a headwind sprint to the finish line.
Niels Vandeputte (Alpecin-Deceuninck DT) finished third ahead of Kevin Kühn (Heizomat - Cube) and Joran Wyseure (Crelan-Corendon), who took fourth and fifth, respectively.
“It was very difficult to fight for the position. In the beginning of the race, it was not the best legs for me, and [in] the second part of the race, it feels better and better,” Vanthourenhout said.
“And it was just fighting for the last lap for the first and second positions in the sand. And from that, it was just full to the finish.”
How it unfolded
On the fast and bumpy course in Ruddervoorde, Niels Vandeputte (Alpecin-Deceuninck DT) set the pace from the very first corner, trading turns at the front with Kevin Kühn (Heizomat–Cube) as the field stretched out. No one managed to break clear until Nieuwenhuis surged ahead with six laps remaining.
The Dutch rider quickly carved out a 13-second lead, with a small chase group forming behind him. The gap hovered around 10 seconds over the next two laps as no one in the group was willing to take up the chase.
Inside of four laps to go, Joran Wyseure (Crelan-Corendon) applied pressure at the front of the group, and quickly closed the gap to Nieuwenhuis with four riders on his wheel.
The riders at the front - Vanthourenhout, Toon Aerts (Deschacht-Hens), Vandeputte, Nieuwenhuis and Wyseure - were soon joined by Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Corendon), Jente Michels (Alpecin-Deceuninck DT) and Kühn.
Two laps later, a mistake by Aerts in the sand opened up a small gap, forcing him to chase the three riders ahead, Nieuwenhuis, Vanthourenhout, and Kühn.
On the bell lap, Aerts connected back up to the front trio with Nieuwenhuis taking the front, forcing the pace on the same section where he established a gap earlier in the race. However, he could not dislodge the other riders on his wheel. As the riders dismounted to tackle the uphill sand pit, Vanthourenhout ran up the inside line to take the front, a position he kept over the barriers and all the way to the finish line.
Behind him, Aerts went down on the final corner, losing his third position and ultimately finishing in 11th place.
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