MARATHON SKATING – Chiel Smit (25) from Zuidwolde has won silver in the battle for the open Dutch championship on the Weissensee in Austria. After 150 kilometers, Daan Gelling took the Dutch title. The bronze went to Ronald Haasjes.
Thirty kilometers before the finish, a leading group of sixteen men emerged from which the podium trio escaped. Several attempts by the peloton to connect with the leaders failed. An ultimate effort by Luc ter Haar gave him fourth place.
Smit also showed his class on natural ice last season. Then he won the Grand Prix final over 150 kilometers on the natural ice of Luleå, Sweden. It was his first major victory in the A peloton.
The men will ride another ‘sprint race’ over sixty kilometers on Monday. And on Wednesday the Alternative Eleven Cities Tour will follow over 200 kilometers. Smit finished fifth there last year.