When on the last few meters before the finish line Mathieu van der Poel turned around and saw that his closest rival van Aert was well behind him, he sat up on his STEVENS Super Prestige to scream away all the tension that must have built up during a highly focused race and also while having to recover from two knee surgeries last August.

The first run of the Super Prestige Series in Gieten was decided awfully close in the last running section between Mathieu van der Poel, last year’s World Champion and the 2016 World Champion Wout van Aert. In ankle-deep sand the two were neck to neck, running next to each other and even climbed their bikes again at the very same time. Van Aert dropping his chain resulted in a slight advantage for Van der Poel.

Almost the entire race was characterized by this duel; neither of the two could gain a decisive advantage over the other. About halfway through the race in a sandy section it was Mathieu van der Poel of team Beobank-Corendon to advance to the front of the race all alone. When he almost stumbled over the obstacles, van Aert caught up again, though. The two went a little easier on the tempo so Laurens Sweeck of ERA-Circus was able to close the gap.

When the two took up speed again it was back to the old duel again. Laurens Sweek confirmed his good start into the season by finishing third. Other Beobank-Corendon riders with good result were David van der Poel in 9th place and Vincent Baestaens in 12th. Michael Bros and Diether Sweeck of team ERA-Circus came in 13th and 14th place respectively. The next Super Prestige race will be held on October 16th in Zonhoven.

Double Victory For Beobank-Corendon In Meulebeke
In the first race of the DVV Verzekeringen Trofee (formerly bpost bank Trofee) Mathieu van der Poel suffered from bad luck in the decisive last third of the race. While putting a dropped chain back on he had to let-go of van Aert, Michael Vanthourenhout and Jens Adams.

But one week later at the Berencross race in Meulebeke, van der Poel took his second win of the season. Van Aert who had not completely recovered yet from an illness during the week finished 9th.

All the more happy was van der Poels’s team mate Wietse Bosmans with his second place obviously having regained his strength after having suffered from a lengthy illness last season. Another good performance was a fourth place by Vincent Baestaens, also Beobank-Corendon.

Laurens Sweeck wins Soudal Classics in Neerpelt
After ending up on the podium in the American World Cup races and the Super Prestige race in Gieten everybody knew Laurens Sweek would be a force to reckon with this season. The ERA-Circus captain gave proof of that in the first race of the Soudal Classics Series in Neerpelt.

The runner-up Belgian Champion countered an attack of Jens Adams and the two increased their lead together. Yet, in the penultimate lap Sweek used a sandy section to get away and soloed to victory. Sweek’s team mate Michael Boros rode to fourth place. Other Beobank-Corendon riders with respectable finishes were Wietse Bosmans in 6th and Philipp Walsleben in 7th.