After the grueling track in Namur and the ski mountain in Herentals, Heusden-Zolder presented an extremely fast confrontation between Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert. Or those were the expectations.
A flat tire in the first round decided otherwise: now Van der Poel was not the victim, but Van Aert was. In the equipment post, the damage had already taken up to 27 seconds.
After a dramatic start, Tom Pidcock was also unable to challenge Van der Poel. European champion Eli Iserbyt then? The West Flemish did his best to keep up, but in the pursuit he hit the nadar fences. Iserbyt was taken to hospital, there are fears of a serious elbow injury.
In the meantime, an unapproachable Van der Poel was already more than 40 seconds ahead halfway through the race. His four-leaf clover in Heusden-Zolder was never endangered. Pursuers Sweeck, Van Kessel, Van der Haar, Soete and Vanthourenhout were put on their number.
Van Aert did not spend too long in their company either. With the fastest lap of the race, he shot to 2nd place, a boost for the World Cup in Dendermonde. Van der Haar sprinted to 3rd place.
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