Lars van Berkel finished in third place on Sunday during the enduropale Le Touquet, the toughest and most beautiful beach race in the world. Twenty minutes before the end, the Motocrosser from Veghel was still involved in a heavy crash. His Belgian teammate Jeremy van Horebeek suffered a broken back and breastbone. “I feel guilty while I can’t do anything about it.”
It was for the third time in his career that Van Berkel finished third in the beach race in France. It was a tough race and the Brabander had to come from far. “The last hour I only got on steam and could close another hole. A third place was the highest attainable after a catch -up race.”
“The last thing you want is your teammate driving off and it didn’t work that way.”
But a podium place in Le Touquet is of course a very beautiful and great achievement. The shadow side of the success was a serious accident in which Van Berkel was involved twenty minutes before time. During his catch-up race he was fighting with his Honda teammate Jeremy van Horebeek and it went wrong.
“We were engaged in a big battle and already passed each other six or seven times,” says Lars. “Because we came from the back field, we sat among the amateurs and I suddenly had to ride. In addition, I rode on top in a bend on him. Jeremy drove the race, but later he turned out to have broken his t3 spine and breastbone. “
Van Berkel is disappointed by the incident. “With a podium place, Le Touquet succeeded for me,” he continues. “But this is very annoying. The last thing you want is your teammate driving off. And it didn’t work, because it was just a racing incident.”
“I feel guilty somewhere, because he is just my buddy. But it was an accident and I couldn’t do it. I spoke Jeremy of course and he sees it. He is in a lot of pain, but it will be fine. “
Lars van Berkel himself had nothing left over to the crash with Van Horebeek. “I have a lot of muscle pain, because it is a match where you go full container for three hours. In fact it is just a war. It is an attack on your body and you always feel that. Too bad I have not won and so that dream remains. ”
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