Laurens Sweeck wins speedy Cyclocross World Cup in Beekse Bergen

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Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Fristads) took a second elite men's Cyclocross World Cup win of his career at Beekse Bergen, outsprinting Lars van der Haar (Baloise Trek Lions) and European Champion Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal).

The trio made the running from the second of the race's eight laps on a flat, twisting course around the Dutch safari park. In a sprint showdown, Sweeck's power won through. Having waited his whole career for an elite World Cup triumph, the Belgian has two in quick succession, having taken victory at the last round in Maasmechelen a fortnight ago.

After a poor start, World Cup leader Eli Iserbyt made a late charge to threaten the leaders, finishing fifth. His lead at the top of the standings has been slashed to four points by Sweeck.

"I didn't look back," Sweeck said of the finale. "I thought it was quite far, but I knew we were riding the last corner really fast so it was difficult to stay on the wheel. I thought that Michael was attacking, but he tried and didn't go for real. So, I went full."

"I think I'm almost at my best. I was a little bit sick last week and when I take two wins in a week… it's maybe nothing, but I didn't feel 100 per cent."

Runner-up Van der Haar narrowly missed out on victory in his homeland. "I just had to fight a little bit too much with Eli [Iserbyt], who unexpectedly came back in the end," he said afterwards. "Then I was a little bit not in control because I knew I couldn't jump the barriers."

"I made a small steering error in the last corner and that gave them a couple of metres. Those were the metres I missed on the line."

How it unfolded

Swiss rider Kevin Kuhn got the hole shot and took the race lead. In stark contrast, Czech hope Michael Boroš dropped his chain at the start, falling to the very rear of the field.

As Lars van der Haar (Baloise Trek Lions) moved into the lead, Eli Iserbyt and European champion Michael Vanthourenhout found themselves with work to do, outside the top eight in the opening lap.

Leading from the front, on a narrow course that Van der Haar likened to a maze, paid off. After Kuhn crashed early on lap two while third wheel, Van der Haar and Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Fristads) opened up a small advantage which would prove decisive.

Newly-crowned European champion Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) recognised the danger and bridged across, making it an elite leading trio.

His teammate Eli Iserbyt may have won the first three rounds of the cyclocross World Cup campaign, but days after an MRI scan confirmed sciatica in his back, he made a poor start, clipping out of his pedal, and languished in the middle of the chasing pack.

Having started on the fifth row, Joris Nieuwenhuis (Baloise Trek Lions) joined the frontrunners with a show of solo strength. With teammate Van der Haar in front, they had tactical cards to play.

As Nieuwenhuis injected pace into the group, World Cup leader Iserbyt came to life. On lap five, he moved away from the single-file pack fighting for fifth, hunting down the leaders. An error proved costly: no sooner had he caught them, the diminutive cyclocross star was chasing again after a crash.

Sweeck hit the gas on the penultimate lap, forcing Vanthourenhout and Van der Haar to grind their way back up to him as they started the eighth and final lap.

Michael Vanthourenhout briefly put a few metres into his two rivals on the safari park's embankments. Iserbyt and Nieuwenhuis latched back on briefly, but it would be a three-man fight for first place. Vanthourenhout led Sweeck and Van der Haar over the barriers and through the sand in a nervy finale.

With an average speed bordering on 25km/h, the race came down to power and timing.

28-year-old Sweeck carried his speed round the final corner onto the long, tarmacked finishing straight and slipped down the inside of Vanthourenhout.

He beat Van der Haar into second place with a long sprint. Vanthourenhout was third, a second ahead of Nieuwenhuis and Iserbyt.

The World Cup battle resumes on November 20 for the sixth round in Overijse. World champion Tom Pidcock is expected to be lining up there for his first World Cup race of the season.

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