The native Dane and Luxembourgian by choice won the first run of the Ardennes Marathon Series. In the “La Hallonienne“ race in Grand-Halleux Sören Nissen rode to an almost start-to-finish victory. Very early he had broken away from the pursuit on his STEVENS Sonora to tackle the 75 kilometers (47 miles) and 1900 meters (6234 feet) of elevation in the Belgian Ardennes with climbs like Côte de Wanne und der Côte de Stockeau - well known from the Classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
At the finish line the Luxembourgian marathon and cross country champion had a more than three minutes lead over the competition, before Sebastien Carabin won the fight for second place over Joris Massaer and and Dutch rider Roel Verhoeven.
“Nice to see that this Belgian MTB series has developed into a high-class race program within five years with many top riders from the World Tour and from cyclocross.”
The Belgian Ardennes Marathon Series consists of seven runs throughout the whole season. The next race will start on May 19th at the La Rockalienne.