Mathieu van der Poel wins Izegem Koerse

“In search of course toughness”

Van der Poel at the start of Izegem Koerse. The organizers could hardly have dreamed of a better name. For MVDP, the road to the World Cup leads past the city of brushes and shoes: “Yes, there are very few races so it’s nice to be able to participate here. Still a bit of that race hardness that I still want to gain. Glad to be there Do you think it will be enough compared to guys coming from Canada or from the Vuelta a España? I don’t know. It’s always hard to estimate. But I also don’t have that choice to be able to ride everywhere with the squad, then you have to choose an alternative preparation.

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Severe weather conditions

Izegem, which will also welcome the Belgian championship next year, has an unprecedented flooded edition. Long time no see, this again. Tim Declercq, for example, is in the lead of the race, but he falls away from the front. We have fifteen leaders, but that will be eight in the final. With Mathieu van der Poel, he also had to change bikes, this is the hardness he asked for. MVDP has three teammates. Guillaume Van Keirsbulck, but also Dries De Bondt and Julien Vermote. For Quick.Step – Alpha Vinyl, Bert Vanlerberghe and Yves Lampaert are more up front. Lampaert, he will also be in Australia next week, for the time trial and the road race at the World Cup.

With 23 kilometers to go, Lampaert forces the final separation, together with Dries De Bondt. Two ex-Belgian champions will be joined by an ex-Dutch champion: Mathieu van der Poel. The three coats firmly through, on to the finish. All three try to mouse from underneath, but in the end it turns into a sprint. Lampaert still tries, but MVDP takes the victory on the power. And so some race hardness, on the way to the World Cup.