Eli Iserbyt repeats victory at World Cup Iowa City

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European cyclo-cross champion Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) bounced back from a runner-up finish at Fayetteville on Wednesday in the mud to win in warm conditions during the third round of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Iowa City, Iowa on Sunday.

The Belgian kept Lars Van der Haar (Baloise Trek Lions) at bay despite a determined chase by the second-placed Dutchman. Iserbyt's teammate Michael Vanthourenhout finished third, managing to gap Toon Aerts (Baloise-Trek Lions) with an uphill acceleration during the final lap.

“It was very hot," Iserbyt said in the post race interview, adding that the heat intensified in the final laps. "Especially with the hard efforts without any drinks its very hard and we are not used to it in Belgium, but I can handle the heat very well. Today was just hot enough.”

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Iserbyt won the Iowa City World Cup contest when it was last held in 2019. He is the current leader in the elite men's World Cup standings with his three podiums on the US swing, including the win during the opening round in Waterloo, Wisconsin.

Quinten Hermans (Tormans CX) is now second on the overall standings after having finished fifth in Iowa City after losing touch with the lead group when he came off over the barriers and then lost extra time due to a dropped chain.  Hermans won the muddy Fayetteville World Cup round and came third at Waterloo.

Hermans had looked like he was set to deliver another commanding performance in the opening stages of the race, stringing out the field so that by the fourth lap of the ten lap race it was a group of four riders leading – the three podium finishers and Hermans. Aerts then joined the quartet on the fifth lap.

The barrier bunny-hop that went wrong, however, soon left Hermans out of the lead group and the running for the podium. Then at three-laps left to go the group was further split when Iserbyt took off alone.

“I have an advantage here (Jingle Cross) because I am not that big – going uphill,” said Iserbyt. “On the climbs, I got a little gap and then held my pace."

Van der Haar didn’t give up easily, attempting to find his way back to Iserbyt’s wheel but while he had him within sight in the final lap, he still couldn’t quite close the gap. As Iserbyt soloed to first, Van der Haar kept the pace up to hold second with a 20 second buffer to Vanthourenhout.

The World Cup series now moves on from the United States, with the next round in Zonhoven, Belgium on Oct 24.