Iserbyt second at Parkcross Maldegem, Laurens Sweeck wins after solo

It is Sweeck’s fourth victory of the season, previously he won the Kermiscross in Ardooie, the GP Leuven and the Flandriencross in Hamme.

Kevin Kuhn stormed into the field first of the pack. Corné van Kessel, Lars van der Haar and Laurens Sweeck dangled behind the Swiss. Sweeck took the lead on the beams, while Van der Haar galloped there. He took the second beam full and went down heavily.

Sweeck was able to start the second round with a slight lead. Behind him followed a group of nine riders, which included Corné van Kessel, Michael Vanthourenhout, Daan Soete, Toon Vandebosch, Ryan Kamp, Eli Iserbyt, Felipe Orts, Kevin Kuhn and Stan Godrie. Sweeck was joined in that second round by his teammate Vanthourenhout. They found each other immediately and picked up the pace further. Halfway through the race, Sweeck and Vanthourenhout finished 11 seconds ahead of Niels Vandeputte, Toon Vandebosch, Eli Iserbyt and Felipe Orts. Van der Haar in turn joined the chasing group after a nice remonte. Just before the start of the third last round, disaster struck Vanthourenhout. He crashed and had to leave Sweeck alone in the lead.

The battle for second place was fierce. Iserbyt put pressure on the rest in the final lap and cut a small gap. He retained that until the finish line and thus kept Van der Haar from the closest place of honour.