Eli Iserbyt started with a clear assignment for the classic in Gavere: stay close to first pursuer Toon Aerts in order to crown himself as the overall winner.
In the second round it seemed to go wrong for the leader of Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal when he got caught in a descent in a banner and crashed to the ground.
Iserbyt immediately stood up and started chasing Lars van der Haar, who had just started his effort.
Once, Iserbyt was able to hook up his wagon, but after a second acceleration of the European champion, the SP leader’s spring was broken.
Van der Haar gained a comfortable lead in no time, after which he soloed to the victory. In the background, Iserbyt Aerts easily stayed ahead, good for his very first overall victory in the Superprestige.
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“Today I had no pain in my knee. Happy. That is currently only during long endurance training. I immediately felt that I had good legs today,” says Van der Haar, who will go under the knife after this weekend.
“The rest of the suit was also looking at each other in the opening round. I didn’t play poker and went straight on. This way I could also help Toon (Aerts) in the rest of the match, but it was Aerts himself which gave me the motivation to go for the win.”
A first Superprestige victory for Van der Haar, and then in Gavere. “Having a classic like Gavere on my record makes me very proud. I hope it will be dry here in the coming years. That suits me.”
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Eli Iserbyt: “I’m happy with the overall victory in the Superprestige. After my crash at the beginning of the race, it wasn’t easy anymore. I got stuck somewhere and was still quite “groggy” after the tumble. I went a little over my paces afterwards because I immediately reconnected. There was no real panic, but I still had to calculate for the final classification. It was a struggle to complete the hour.”
Show Aerts: “At the end Eli (Iserbyt) and I fought a nice duel. At first I was in a fight with him and his teammate Michael Vanthourenhout. Then I didn’t know what to do. I then chose to do a longer piece. to force my pace on them. With success: Michael (Vanthourenhout) has then dropped out. That effort did play tricks on me in the end during the ultimate duel with Iserbyt.”
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